


bling bling

by Chihari, fanxymoonchild



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Crimes & Criminals, Dudebro Antics, Fluff, Fraternities & Sororities, Hazing, Light Angst, M/M, Meet-Cute, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-29
Updated: 2020-04-25
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:21:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 31,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23371582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chihari/pseuds/Chihari, https://archiveofourown.org/users/fanxymoonchild/pseuds/fanxymoonchild
Summary: They’re just small town college boys trying to make it to the weekend. If they happen to rob a few houses on the way, whose business is that? Not yours.
Relationships: Choi Jongho/Jung Wooyoung, Choi San/Kim Hongjoong, Jeong Yunho/Song Mingi, Kang Yeosang/Park Seonghwa
Comments: 20
Kudos: 76





	1. Chapter 1

“That’s a nice neighborhood,” Mingi casually points out as he flips through radio channels in Hongjoong’s car. The windows are rolled down, the air conditioning in the car hasn’t worked in almost a year, and Mingi slouches into his seat as he switches to using the aux cord, scrolling through Hongjoong’s music gallery.

Wooyoung grunts, displeased. “Nah, I saw a neighborhood watch sign.” He’s scrolling through his own phone in the back seat, black rimmed glasses on, and the light from his phone makes his glasses flare.

Mingi hums, finally settling on a mellow playlist from Hongjoong’s phone. Looking up from the phone, he looks back out the window at all the houses they’re passing. “These are all so pretty. Oh, look at that one!” He says, swatting at Hongjoong’s shoulder to get his attention.

The houses are indeed pretty. They’re all neatly lining the road, vinyl walls, all the same color, very cookie cutter, very upper middle class. Hongjoong swats back at him from his seat, swerving a little in his efforts making the people in the backseat squeak.

Hongjoong has one hand on the steering wheel while the other reaches out to tug at Mingi’s hair. “We’re not about to hit every house on this street just because they’re pretty!”

Mingi pouts, rubbing his head. “But they're big, too,” he whines.

“That’s what she said,” Jongho mumbles from the back seat. He giggles when Wooyoung smacks his shoulder for the comment and leans into the smaller man’s space to kiss him.

“Look, all I’m saying is it’s like 9:30 on a Monday morning, everyone should be at work or school so it'll be easy! And quick!” Mingi babbles. His hands are twitching, never a good sign.

“I hear you, buddy,” Hongjoong placates, “but we’re literally just going to the good Wal-Mart. Can we focus on groceries, please?”

They’re just small town college boys trying to make it to the weekend. Hongjoong and Mingi grew up together, both orphaned young. Hongjoong was never adopted while Mingi bounced in and out, no home ever fitting him right. Mingi has always had issues with keeping his hands to himself. He started to steal very young, Hongjoong doesn’t remember when the first time it happened, but the boy just gets twitchy, and it’s almost like he has to take things. They’re never big ticket items, but it worries Hongjoong enough for him to monitor the younger man to this day. They are brothers in every sense of the word and Hongjoong would hate to see anything bad happen to him.

“You know it’s hard for him to focus.” Jongho snorts from the backseat.

“No one asked you,” Mingi calls back.

“He focused enough to hear that.” Wooyoung teases.

Mingi scoffs, looking at the houses fly by as they ride along. “They have a gazebo in their backyard? Totally robbing them.”

Hongjoong let out a noisy sigh, “You know what, fuck it, sure.” Turning the wheel, Hongjoong began to pull into the neighborhood Mingi pointed at. 

“Wait, you can’t be serious, we’re in broad daylight!” Wooyoung waves his hands frantically around, almost hitting Jongho in the process. 

Mingi swats his hands right back at him. “Don’t sweat, it’s a week day people should be at work or at school.”

They pull up and Hongjoong shuts off the car quickly, hopping out the driver's seat with fervor. “In and out, I don’t wanna be here too long.”

The couple in the back seat sigh and Hongjoong hears their seatbelts release as he surveys the house. It was a quaint, little thing. White vinyl lining all around, clean, too, so whoever lives there must have money to power wash it. Good signs, so far. The gazebo in the back also makes them seem like a good target, they have money for useless, decorative add-ons. The lawn is a vibrant green, and manicured cutely. All good signs, all good signs. They’re sure to find something valuable in the house.

“I know nothing about this house. I don’t even have time to look.” Wooyoung says with a deep frown on his face. Normally, Wooyoung will pull up the schematics on the houses before they go in. It makes it easier to pinpoint where the precious items might be.

Jongho does a quick look around. “This looks similar to my house,” he responds, breaking his concentration from making sure no one could see them. Being the muscle of the group, it was Jongho’s job to handle any of the rough stuff, should they run into anyone.

Hongjoong has a small smile on his face and shakes his head. “Just let him have this. Get it out of his system now so he won’t steal the whole Wal-Mart building.” Hongjoong is the frontman of the group. What he says, goes, and if he has to distract someone, he’ll do whatever it takes.

Wooyoung sighs, “Okay, you’re the boss.” He pops his phone into his pocket and follows an overly excited Mingi to the backyard. The back door of the house is old looking, paint chipping around the corners. Bad sign in regards to valuable stuff in the house, but good sign for Wooyoung. He lightly hip checks Mingi out of his way and kneels down in front of the door. Bobby pin in hand, he makes quick work with unlocking the door.

When the door knob clicks open, Wooyoung breathes a sigh of relief. “We’re lucky it’s old enough for just my hair pin to work.”

“Yeah, yeah, thanks, whatever, move.” Mingi dismisses, swiftly moving around the shorter man and shuffling right into the house. He almost immediately veers to the left and disappears around a corner. Vaguely, Hongjoong hears him go up a flight of stairs.

Jongho lags behind and is the last one to enter the house, being careful to close the door softly behind him. “Really though, guys, let’s make this quick.”

“Mingi, remember, in and out!” Hongjoong calls up to the second floor.

“Good luck with that.” Wooyoung scoffs as he takes in the downstairs. It doesn’t seem like this person has much. Their back door leads into their kitchen which is modestly decorated. There's a dining table that’s small and covered with mail, pocket change, coupon books, and other miscellaneous things nestled in the center of the room. The cabinets look old, the counters could use some updating, and there isn’t a dishwasher in sight. Wooyoung has half a mind to walk right back out the house.

“I almost feel bad for robbing them,” Hongjoong muses.

“No rest for the wicked!” Mingi’s voice yells down from the second story. He’s bouncing down the stairs with several necklaces around his neck and a couple of watches on his left wrist.

As if the heavens are against them, the sound of a car door slamming scares them simultaneously. Hongjoong, Wooyoung, and Jongho share the same look before looking at Mingi and collectively shoo him to go hide. Hongjoong and the others book it out the backdoor, practically falling over each other. 

“We’ve got to stop them from getting in the house!” Hongjoong whisper shouts. They all nod at each other and make their way to the front of the house, trying their best to look as casual as possible. 

Hongjoong peaks around the corner and sees the man getting something from his backseat. This is his chance.

Hongjoong walks over casually, like they didn’t break into this man’s house, and cleared his throat. “Um, excuse me,” he calls out, making his voice sound as timid as possible. “Sir?”

The mystery man hits his head in his haste to get out of his car and Hongjoong winces for him sympathetically before he feels his jaw drop at the sight of him. This man is gorgeous. His hair is jet black with a blonde streak in the front. He’s lean, clothes hugging his body comfortably while also showing off his frame, and his eyes were beautiful. The man smiles at him and, oh no, he has dimples. Hongjoong felt himself swoon.

“Hello?” The man replies, smile still in place and dimples still on display. “Can I help you?” His head is tilted to the side and Hongjoong feels himself rally up all his brain cells to answer.

“Yes, actually!” He says loudly. He moves closer to the man, careful to come at him in an angle that keeps the house out of the man’s line of vision. “We’re a little lost,” he says, faking sheepish and rubbing his hand on the back of his neck.

The man squints, smile turning more confused than welcoming. “Lost? Where are you trying to go?”

“We’re trying to get to Wal-Mart, actually.” Hongjoong says slowly, voice deceptively light. He’s not sure if it’s a good thing when the man’s face ebbs into more confusion.

“You’re looking for Wal-Mart? And you’re all the way out here?” The man is leaning on his car now, in between the car door and the interior of the back seat. He’s so hot, Hongjoong has to blink himself back into focus.

“Yeah, we’re coming from campus. We wanted to go to the good Wal-Mart around here.” He gestures around himself, hands flapping in a way that Mingi likes to call cute but Hongjoong swears is manly.

“Oh, that’s cool, I hate the Wal-Mart by university, too,” the man laughs a little and it’s such a nice sound, Hongjoong’s never thought himself to be easy but, wow, maybe he’s a slut, who knows. “Y’all ain’t got cellphones, though?” He questions. Hongjoong will concede it looks a little strange for three people to not have a single working phone.

“Well,” Hongjoong began pulling out his old phone, cracked screen on display, “this isn’t the most reliable phone.” A small chuckle escapes Hongjoong’s lips. 

“I thought we weren’t going to be long, so mine is at the dorm.” Jongho calls out, shrugging casually. 

“I don’t have mine on me, either.” Wooyoung adds on smoothly. A clear lie because his phone was in his pocket. 

“Oh, well, okay.” The man turns his body towards the road, “Go out and make a left, go three stop signs, and then go right. Stay on that road for a few miles and then you’re there.” The man happily gives directions to the seemingly clueless group in front of him.

A chorus of thanks and thank yous graced the air and the man nodded in acknowledgement. “You said you’re coming from campus?” The man questions.

“Yeah, do you go there?” Hongjoong asks genuinely. 

“Yeah, my name is San.” San holds his hand out for Hongjoong to shake. 

“I’m Hongjoong.” The frontman didn’t even bother to give the others names, it’s none of his business anyway.

“Cool, you all should come to a party my friend is throwing this weekend. It’s going to be on Saturday at 9pm. If I gave you the neighborhood name, will you know how to get there?” San teases.

Jongho sneezes signaling for him to wrap it up, Mingi having gotten out the house safely and hovering around their car. The jewelry around his neck glitters in the sunlight and it almost sends Hongjoong into an early grave. 

“Sure, yeah, we can make it.” Hongjoong accepts for the group, trying to wrap up their conversation. San breathes out some ritzy neighborhood’s name and Hongjoong nods along. “Cool, we’ll see you Saturday,” he says and quickly dismisses himself and the group. He walks briskly towards his car, hoping that San goes back to his regularly scheduled programming.

San’s eyes trail after Hongjoong, and he doesn’t know if he should feel good about that or not but the decision is made for him when the next words San calls out are, “Oh, there’s four of you guys?”

“Yeah, he’s a little shy.” Hongjoong lies over his shoulder.

“Huh,” San tutts. “Bring him, too,” he smiles, beautiful dimples on display again.

“You got it, boss,” Hongjoong calls out as he climbs into his car. Once his friends are safely inside, he drives away.

“That was too close,” Jongho frowns as they all walked into their shared apartment on campus. 

“Way too close.” Wooyoung’s voice echoes, carrying bags from the store into the kitchen.

“Mingi, pal, you got to work on that itch of yours.” Hongjoong sighs as he places several more bags onto the counter.

“Okay, yeah, I’ll work on it as soon as possible.” Mingi brushes off absentmindedly as he digs through his pockets and pulls out with a small juice cup. He stabs it with his finger and starts sucking from it slowly. “What did I miss with that guy?”

Hongjoong levels Mingi with a glare as he puts away the groceries with Wooyoung and Jongho. “None of your business.”

Wooyoung tuts, looking at Hongjoong from the corner of his eye. “Lying ass,” he starts. Facing Mingi fully, his eyes sparkle as he snitches, “He thinks we didn't notice but he definitely thought that guy was hot.”

“Hey!”

“We also got invited to a house party,” Jongho chimes in. “I think we should go. If the people he hangs around are anything like him, I can take them. Their houses are bound to have something worthwhile, too.” He’s got a lollipop in his mouth, bulging out his cheek, and Wooyoung taps it before pulling it out of his mouth to pop it into his own, sucking on the lollipop cheekily and winking at his man while doing so. 

Hongjoong hums as he moves to their living room area. He plops down on their ugly lime colored couch and spreads his legs wide in front of him. The little coffee table in front of him is covered with loose sheets of paper, notebooks, pens and pencils, and their collective prized possession, Wooyoung’s laptop. It’s connected to their television via the longest HDMI cable Mingi could fit in his pockets from the campus store and he leans over to open it as the rest of his boys file into the sitting area.

Jongho is quick to sit at the opposite side of the couch from Hongjoong and Wooyoung slides right beside him, slinging one of his legs onto Jongho’s lap. Mingi, the last one to enter the room, moves to sit between Hongjoong’s legs on the floor in front of them. He’s got a granola bar in his hand and he chomps on it loudly as he blinks as he reaches for the remote to turn on their television.

“We won’t have any big bills after this one, right?” Hongjoong asks the crowd. They all nod in agreement so Hongjoong continues. “Good, let’s make this our last one. Wooyoung, let’s see what the house looks like,” Hongjoong speaks with his eyes trained on the screen.

“Give me a sec to pull everything up,” Wooyoung quickly grabs his laptop and his fingers fly over the keys with precision. Several pages pop up as Wooyoung types away, a sight they were all used to by now. He has multiple tabs open and he clicks between them before he halts. “Okay, let’s get down to business.”

“To defeat the Huns,” Mingi says in a tiny, high pitched voice.

Jongho leans to tap Mingi on the head and they share a giggle as Wooyoung completely ignores them in favor of talking to Hongjoong. “The developer decided to call it the Big Sky? Seems pretentious, but okay. It looks like a contemporary tudor style home, two levels, the neighborhood tends to have three and four bedroom models with two master options, one on each floor.”

“Do they have a neighborhood watch?” Hongjoong fires back.

Wooyoung pushes his glasses up and scrolls a little on the screen before replying, “Nope.”

“Shocking for such a nice neighborhood.” Hongjoong ignores Mingi poking at his left knee in an attempt to annoy him. “Do they have one of those contracted security companies that cover the whole neighborhood? Or, do they have to get their own?”

Wooyoung clicks around for a bit, squinting at the laptop screen before highlighting a line on the page. On their television, the highlighted sentence reads ‘This is a KQ secured neighborhood.’ “They have a contracted security company, but this is a small one, I bet the most they do is offer insurance plans, not actual cameras and shit. I’ll circle back to that later.” He taps several more keys and an image of the model house’s blueprint pops up. “Here are the schematics of Big Sky.” 

“Most of the houses we’ve been to, the people tend to keep the developers ideas for rooms,” Hongjoong notes. Hopefully, they could rely on the plans they are looking at to be accurate in-person.

Wooyoung nods quickly, “Yeah.”

Hongjoong leans forward on the couch, elbows resting on Mingi’s shoulders, and contemplates. “Judging by the floorplan, it will be easy for us to act as distractions while Mingi goes into the master bedroom.”

“We haven’t been to a house party in a minute, I’m looking forward to it.” Jongho positively lights up with the information. He typically listens to the rough game plan but, ultimately, he’s there for backup. If he’s not swinging on someone, you can find him nursing a drink and being the general center of attention.

“We’ll keep our normal roles, just try to fit in with everyone else. Let’s not do anything to stand out too much.” Hongjoong further explains.

Wooyoung smirks, “Speak for yourself, hot shot. I saw you checking out that guy earlier.”

Hongjoong swats at him in response, pushing the man right into Jongho’s chest, laptop jostling with the movement. “Hush, you saw nothing.”

“Oh, I see, you all get to play but I have to work.” Mingi pouts and crosses his arms over his chest.

“You’ll live,” Hongjoong placates as he pets Mingi’s head. “I need everyone’s full attention, I have a plan.” Hongjoong scoots back into his seat to untuck his legs from around Mingi before getting up and moving to the front of the room. He pulls out a small white baord and a marker from under the coffee table and sets to work. 

“Oh, this is my favorite part,” Mingi excitedly scoots closer to the table, propping his elbows up and smiling dopily. Wooyoung and Jongho both lean forward, as well, giving Hongjoong their undivided attention.

Wooyoung’s eyes barely leave his phone while he sits on the couch. He’s surrounded by drunk partygoers, all talking too loud and clumsily moving to the music. His boys and him all have one bluetooth, wireless earphone tucked securely in their ears, courtesy of Mingi’s five finger discount, that they use to discreetly keep in contact during heists like this. Wooyoung’s got at least five tabs open in his phone, ready for anything that could happen tonight.

They arrived at the party well after it had already started, making it easier to blend in with the already established crowd. It was part of Hongjoong’s plan, making sure people were drunk enough so they wouldn’t draw attention to themselves. Wooyoung has the house’s floor plan on his phone in case Mingi needs help finding something. He knew Mingi didn’t really pay attention to the floorplan before, but they quickly found out the downstairs master bedroom option was made into a guest space.

“No one is on the steps now, Mingi, you can go up.” Wooyoung whispers.

“Ok.” Mingi smiles from his spot next to the staircase, red solo cup held loosely in his hand. He makes sure to stumble a little as he goes up the stairs, just to appear drunker than he actually was. Jongho orbits around Mingi, keeping the taller man in his peripheral vision while chatting with a group of drunkards, fitting in naturally. He knew exactly how to blend into a party crowd, his inner frat boy shining through in times like this.

Wooyoung watches them over his phone, screen illuminating his face and glaring on his glasses. He opens a few games on his phone, just to have something to do as he waits for anyone to need him. He’s idly playing Snake when he catches Jongho following Mingi up the stairs. Satisfied with that, he listens in on Hongjoong’s conversation.

Their leader is conveniently standing in a group that has San in it, along with two more of his friends who introduced themselves as Yunho and Seonghwa. They all seemed to be pleasantly buzzed, slight slurs in their voices from both the alcohol and their various English accents. They’re all complaining about some class Wooyoung placed out of so he shifts his focus more to his game of Snake. Slowly, he feels the couch he’s sitting on shift and darts his eyes over. The guy is nursing a drink and is far enough away from him to where Wooyoung doesn’t think much of it. Electing to ignore him, he buries his face into his phone completely.

“I hate that professor,” Seonghwa comments. 

“He can be pretty annoying,” Hongjoong grins as he takes a sip from his cup.

“How did you meet San again?” The one named Yunho suddenly changes the topic.

Hongjoong appears to be sheepish in his response. “Me and my friends got lost. He helped us out”

San takes another swig of his drink, “Yeah, he was almost there, though.” 

“I can’t believe you ran into someone so pretty,” Seonghwa gushes as he twirls a strand of Hongjoong’s hair. He seems to be a very friendly drunk, blush high on his cheeks and easily visible even to Wooyoung from all the way across the room.

Wooyoung thinks San says something, but his voice is drowned out by their big friend, Yunho, chuckling, his words slurring heavily as he speaks, “Seonghwa, please, if Yeosang saw you he’d be pissed.”

“I’m anticipating it,” Seonghwa winks.

Then there’s a lull in the conversation making Wooyoung glance up, curious what’s going on. He sees the Seonghwa guy look around before stopping in Wooyoung’s direction. “Speak of the devil,” Seonghwa says while still looking his way, “I’ll catch y’all later.” And he makes his way to Wooyoung’s couch.

Wooyoung frowns and whispers, “Hongjoong, what the fuck.” To which the aforementioned man only coughs and subtly shrugs his shoulders.

Loudly, Yunho complains to the group and his voice booms in Wooyoung’s ear, “I’m checking my bedroom to make sure no one’s having sex in it. You know I had to stop people earlier from fucking there.” He breaks off to leave Hongjoong and San by themselves.

“Jong, Ming, check in,” Wooyoung commands lowly, looking on the outside to be very engrossed in his Snake game.

Jongho coughs and Mingi yips out a fake hiccup. Wooyoung takes it as a good sign. Hongjoong is still chatting up San but before Wooyoung can actually process what's being said, there’s a warm body beside him much closer than before. He looks over and sees it’s Seonghwa, the man looks taller now that he’s closer. He’s whispering into the guy beside him’s ear and Wooyoung guesses that must be the Yeosang they were talking about, if the hand squeezing high on Seonghwa’s thigh is anything to go by.

He dies in Snake and he grunts at the loss. Closing the game, he fires up Tetris instead. He’s in the zone, focused on his game while listening to Hongjoong flirt and Mingi complain about literally everything when he feels someone tap his shoulder. It startles him so bad he almost drops his phone, misplacing two Tetris blocks in quick succession. His head whips to the side so fast he feels it pop and he winces, eyes squinting at Seonghwa beside him.

“Can I help you?” Wooyoung asks. He sees Hongjoong glance at him out the corner of his eye so he pretends to stretch his arm to throw his friend a dismissive gesture.

Seonghwa looks friendly, eyes big and smile charming as he looks Wooyoung right in the face. Yeosang’s hand is resting basically right at where Seonghwa’s thigh meets his hip, dangerously close to his crotch, while his other arm drapes over Seonghwa’s shoulders. Wooyoung notes that Yeosang looks like he’s also been drinking and hopes they’re both not the talkative type.

“We’ve noticed you’ve been sitting here for a while, did you come with anyone? Did they ditch you? That’s not nice. Don’t worry, you can hang with us! My name is Seonghwa, this is my boyfriend, Yeosang. I’ve never seen you around before, do you go to university or do you just live around here? Are you in ASA--”

Wooyoung is absolutely mortified. How does one person talk so fast? He can’t even tell if the man is breathing throughout his rant. He hears Jongho whistle, long and low and says, “wow, someone call Guinness, that dude has to have broken some type of record with that.”

Mingi hums in agreement. “I want whatever he’s having.”

Hongjoong can be seen in the kitchen laughing behind his cup. Looks like Wooyoung got the short end of the stick this time.

Wooyoung feels his mouth drop open as Seonghwa keeps going and going before Yeosang’s grip tightens on his leg, effectively making Seonghwa pause long enough for him to speak. “Sorry about him,” Yeosang says, voice smooth and calm in a way that leads Wooyoung to think he’s nowhere near as drunk as his boyfriend. “He’s a light weight.”

“Oh,” Wooyoung says dumbly. “Bless his heart.”

Yeosang chuckles and starts up a conversation with Wooyoung, every now and then refocusing and reigning in Seonghwa’s ramblings and they’re so nice to him, expressing multiple times that they wouldn’t want to be alone at a party so neither should Wooyoung. It almost makes him feel bad about wanting them to leave him alone. He’s doing his best to follow the conversation while also listening in on what his boys are doing. They tend to run into problems at the worst possible time for Wooyoung.

Suddenly, Mingi could be heard through the bluetooth making an ‘oof’ sound. He was so busy listening in on Wooyoung’s conversation he didn’t notice an imposingly tall man slightly off balanced and coming his way. He collides with the man, face first and immediately goes to hold his now aching nose. “Sorry,” Mingi speaks in a nasally tone, still holding his nose.

“No, no, that was completely my fault,” Yunho slurs back. 

“Mingi, that’s the owner,” Hongjoong mumbles under his voice, noting the timing of Yunho going upstairs and Mingi making the sound that he did. 

Mingi’s eyes widen as he looks at the imposing man. He’s currently carrying several necklaces and rings in his pockets and does his level best not to look suspicious. “Oh, hey, where’s the bathroom at?” Mingi asks, smiling goofy and bright, adding a giggle at the end for good measure. 

“Oh, I’ll show you,” Yunho quickly, and very jerkily grabs Mingi’s hand and pulls him into a bedroom that was thankfully not the one he had just finished lifting items from. “You can use mine.” Yunho points to a door in the corner of his room before releasing Mingi’s hand and laying down on his neatly made bed.

Mingi stands there for several moments before awkwardly going into the bathroom to pretend to use it. He glances at himself in the mirror and notes the faint blush on his cheeks. 

“Mingi, what’s going on in there?” Jongho questions over their bluetooth from out in the hall. 

“I’m using the bathroom,” Mingi whispers back.

“Again?” Hongjoong mumbles.

“No, not again, well, actually maybe I do have to go.” Mingi froze in place, contemplating if he really has to go again.

“Get out of there.” Jongho can be heard speaking harshly into the device. 

“Okay, okay, I’m going,” Mingi whines as he flushes the toilet and turns the faucet on. He finishes his charade and opens the door to see Yunho sleeping soundly on the bed. He’s cute, Mingi notes, and not as imposing as earlier by any means. He does his best to not make any sounds on his way out of the room.

“Fuck, you scared me,” Jongho speaks in a sharp, hushed tone as Mingi bounces over to him. 

“Me too, but in an exciting kind of way, you know?” Mingi beams as he thinks back to Yunho grabbing his hand.

“Whatever, let’s go. My blood pressure can only take so much.” Jongho says as he heads back downstairs, Mingi close behind him.

Hongjoong looks to the stairs as his friends come down. He looks back at San and smiles. “Looks like my friends are pretty drunk now, I should probably go.” Immediately, Mingi appears to slip down the last stair and Jongho catches him, making a show of stumbling as well. Hongjoong gestures to them and shrugs, smiling bright before waving goodbye to a blessedly unassuming San.

“Oh, okay!” San says easily, only slightly buzzed from the drinks. He must be the responsible friend of his group. “We should all hang out sometime. Maybe without all this,” San gestures around to the sea of drunken college students. 

“Definitely,” Hongjoong responds, his eyes lingering on San. “You have my number.” He winks and delights in the blush that blooms on San’s face before turning to leave.

“Glad you guys made friends,” Jongho laughs goodnaturedly once Hongjoong’s close enough to him, Mingi still tucked securely under his arm. “Go save Wooyoung, I’ll take Mingi outside. Rendezvous at the car in 10.”

“Yes, sir!” Hongjoong mock salutes.

Wooyoung lets out a sigh of relief.

“Jesus, what’s wrong with him?” Wooyoung questions as he’s driving the group back to their dorm room. He’s the only one who had nothing to drink the whole party which made him the designated driver for the night.

“I don’t know, he won’t stop laughing.” Jongho complains as he feels all the beer he slammed slowly creep up on him.

Sitting in the middle of the backseat for once, Hongjoong continues giggling to himself. His body is hunched over and he’s clutching onto Mingi’s knee and Jongho’s elbow. Jongho looks unimpressed at the turn of events but Mingi takes it all in stride.

“I think it’s cute,” Mingi murmurs softly as he ruffles Hongjoong’s hair fondly. He leans down to Hongjoong’s level and coos, “Someone had too much to drink.”

Wooyoung stops at a red light and takes the chance to look at the cramped back seat through the rearview mirror. “Did he actually drink?” He laughs goodnaturedly, “I swear, all he has to do is breathe around alcohol and he’s out like a light.”

Jongho sighed whimsically as the car began to move again. “Ah, to be young with a low tolerance.”

“You’re younger than him. We all are.” Woyoung says rolling his eyes goodnaturedly as the light turns green and he continues on driving.

Pulling into one of their university’s parking decks, Wooyoung turns on his brights as he creeps around to find a good spot. Hongjoong’s still giggling, Mingi’s still cooing, and Jongho is still unimpressed with the incessant pull on his elbow.

Wooyoung finally finds a parking spot to pull into, shutting the engine off and turning to the back seat to stare at the trio. “Someone help his drunk ass out.”

“I’ll do it!” Mingi quickly volunteers. As he slid out the car, pulling Hongjoong along with him, the older man was still pulling poor Jongho along.

“Hongjoong,” Jongho whines, allowing himself to be manhandled by his drunk friend. “Mingi, save me!” He demands, pout in place and stumbling behind the boys. 

“It’s your fault,” Wooyoung counters. “Weren’t you the one that gave him the drink? Karma, bitch.” He laughs at them easily, not unused to drunk Hongjoong in the slightest.

“You’re a bitch,” Jongho retorts maturely, sticking his tongue out and everything. 

“Mingi, my baby,” Hongjoong coos as he goes to squish Mingi’s cheeks between the palms of his hands, finally letting go of Jongho. “You did so well tonight. I’m so proud of you.” He’s got a slight skip in his step as if his legs are trying to move faster than his body is used to and it’s causing him to stumble into Mingi’s bigger frame. Mingi decides to take pity on him, quickly turning around and crouching down.

“Get on, loser, we’re going home.”

Hongjoong smiles widely as he accepts the invitation for a piggyback ride. As soon as he is secured, Mingi raises back to his feet and walks with their friends to their dorm. They all chat idly as they take the short walk uphill, Jongho and Wooyoung hand in hand leading the way. Giggling again, Hongjoong rests his chin on Mingi’s shoulder and babbles, “Wow, the air really does feel different up here.”

“He's turned into a fool,” Wooyoung teases as he swipes his school ID card to open the front door of the building. 

The foursome hop on the elevator to go to their floor, Hongjoong still on Mingi’s back, and before they know it they are back in their room. Mingi squats back down to place Hongjoong on the couch before letting out a loud sigh and sinking down right next to Hongjoong.

“So, what did you get?” Wooyoung questions as he sits on the ground by the coffee table. 

“Some necklaces and watches,” Mingi says easily, smiling as he pulls the items out of his pockets. A cluster of expensive looking jewelry is deposited on the coffee table as he does so. Some more gaudy looking than others, all worth a good amount of money.

Jongho whistles. “I don’t know how you do it, Mingi,” he says from the opposite side of the coffee table. He’s sitting next to Wooyoung, lazily running his fingers through the hair at the nape of his boyfriend’s neck.

“Easy,” Hongjoong chimes in. “He takes them.”

“Thank you, Captain Obvious, we would’ve never known how he did it if it weren’t for you.” Wooyoung speaks genuinely, sarcastically.

“You’re welcome,” Hongjoong smiles as he twirls his hair with his fingers. Suddenly, his attention is drawn to the table, Mingi having finally finished organizing his haul for the night. One piece in particular catches his eye but he can’t quite place why. “These are really nice,” he says, words tripping out of his mouth, he’s talking so fast. He reaches out and grazes some of the necklaces with his hands. “These are? So? Nice?” He sounds confused but the boys don’t pay him any mind. Drunk Hongjoong tends to have a lot of energy and then crashes. He’s probably getting sleepy.

Mingi nods absentmindedly, him and the couple on the floor already making plans to pawn off the accessories. It wasn’t until Hongjoong leaned more heavily on Mingi’s side that the taller man shifted his attention to him, only to have Hongjoong slowly blink back at him.

“You look tired. I am too,” Mingi comments. Turning to look at the couple on the floor, Mingi stretches his arms out wide, jostling his tiny friend. “We’re going to sleep.” With that Mingi rises to his feet, wrapping his arms around Hongjoong’s waist to help him stand up with him. The duo make their way to Hongjoong’s bedroom slowly, careful not to run into the couple on the floor on their way.

“Don’t forget to sit some water next to his bed!” Wooyoung calls out. 

Jongho takes that moment to push himself into Wooyoung’s space, beer breath hot on his boyfriend’s neck. “What are we doing tonight?” He questions, voice taking on a suggestive tone.

Wooyoung physically pushes Jongho’s face away from him. “Absolutely nothing,” he laughs. “We’re brushing our teeth and going to bed.”

“Okay, but tomorrow?” Jongho shoots Wooyoung his best puppy eyes.

Wooyoung pretends to think about it before humming, “sure,” and leading them both to the bathroom.

Mingi walked with confidence up the block, his friends shuffling along behind him like little ducklings following their mother. They were in a small part of town making their way to Choi’s Pawn Shop, a hole in the wall store run by Jongho’s uncle. They are probably the main reason the shop is still in business, it’s the only place they trust to sell their stolen goods at. Jongho’s uncle knows how they get their catches but as long as they cut him a share he doesn’t care.

“Mingi, slow down,” Wooyoung complains. His legs can’t carry him as far as Mingi’s.

“I’m excited to see how much we get this time!” Mingi practically bounces as he walks.

Lagging somewhat behind with a pair of big sunglasses on, Hongjoong feels like he has an extended hangover. His head is still pounding from the other night. “Let’s just get this over with.” The leader is annoyed by everything right now.

“Dude, you’re still feeling it?” Jongho asks, trying not to laugh as he notes the slight frown on Hongjoong’s face. Jongho catches the door after Mingi rushes through it and holds it open for the lolligaggers behind him, watching them shuffle in one-by-one.

“Never drinking again,” Hongjoong mumbles as he walks in behind Wooyoung. The shop is small but full of valuables. To the left there are glass cases with different types of jewelry in them, each jewel seemingly shinier than the last. To the right there are various antiques adorning the wall. It feels cramped, but in a hidden treasure, thrift store kind of way.

There’s an older man in the shop already and he smiles at the boys when he sees them. “If it isn’t my favorite customers!” He beams as he comes from behind the checkout counter. “What do you have for me this time?”

“The best stuff you’ve ever seen in your life, Mr. Choi!” Mingi can’t help but show his excitement. Mingi goes into his pockets and pulls out their latest haul. The old man looks at the jewelry with stars in his eyes. 

“You say that every time, and every time you’re right.” Mr. Choi praises as he sorts through all the jewelry as he pulls out a magnifying glass to get a closer look at everything.

“That’s what I like to hear,” Wooyoung chuckles, rubbing his hands together before leaning onto the counter to watch the man do his work. They all lull into silent chatter amongst themselves as Mr. Choi gets down to business. He’s appraising each item one by one and jotting down notes on some spare paper beside him.

Jongho is standing beside his uncle, looking over his shoulder at his notes and commenting every now and then. Mingi is excitedly conversing with Wooyoung about what to eat after they get paid. Poor Hongjoong is leaning on the wall beside the checkout counter, shades blocking out any and all harsh light and arms folded across his chest.

Everything was going smoothly until Jongho’s uncle let out a surprised gasp, catching the gang’s attention immediately. “You guys really are impressive,” Mr. Choi says, awe thick in his voice. He lifts a pretty dainty looking chain necklace up to appraise closer. It’s beautiful; diamonds line the chain tastefully all leading to a teardrop pendant with a striking blue sapphire nestled in the middle of more diamonds. It’s obviously a dated piece but it still looks great. Whoever owns it previously must have taken great care of it.

Mr. Choi handles the necklace with the utmost care as he sets in down away from the other stolen goods. “I don’t know how you guys did it, but heirloom pieces are basically priceless. This is going to go for a really pretty penny.”

The boys immediately start excitedly chattering amongst themselves and Hongjoong nods along with what the man is saying slowly, headache still bothering him. He feels like he’s moving through molasses, fuzzy and slow, limbs feeling the fatigue from the previous night, but the word ‘heirloom’ sounds an alarm in him that jump starts his senses. “Wait, heirloom?” He asks, mouth feeling like he’s been sucking on cotton the whole time. “Super old? That’s not, that’s not good. People look for those, people know where they stash those, what.” He takes off his shades in confusion and glares straight at their resident klepto. “Song Mingi! We talked about this!” 

Mingi’s eyes go really, really wide and he puts his hands up in surrender. He tries to make himself look as small as possible and Wooyoung moves to stand in front of him, shoulders square and jaw locked. “Calm down, Joong, he clearly didn’t know.” He defends.

“Fucking hell, the serial number on that is clearly noticeable.” Hongjoong ruffles his hair in frustration.

Jongho frowns. “Can they trace it?” He questions, trying to break the growing tension in the shop.

“Most likely, yes, but something like this is bound to give you guys all the money you need.” Mr. Choi explains, probably hoping they’ll sell it anyway. He’s a nice man but he’s also greedy. 

Mingi begins pacing around in a circle behind Wooyoung, feeling more and more overwhelmed by the moment. “I can fix this, I can fix this, I know I can!” He wracks his brain, careful to stay out of Hongjoong direct line of sight. “Let’s just sell it quickly! Then we can put all of this behind us.”

Hongjoong still looks pissed, eyebrows furrowing angrily and forehead creasing, so Jongho chimes in from beside his uncle. “Hey, he’s right. What if we sell it and then lay low for a bit?” The dollar signs are clouding their judgement.

The leader squints at his boys in the room. “You all really want to do this? Be honest.” 

The trio look at each other and think long and hard.


	2. Chapter 2

Walking away from Mr. Choi’s Pawn Shop, their pockets are heavier, fat wads of cash evenly distributed between them all. There’s a plain, white envelope in Mingi’s back pocket that Hongjoong digs for quickly. He snatches a pen out of Jongho’s bookbag and takes his time writing a note on the envelope using Wooyoung’s back to press down on. They all slow their pace to accommodate him.

Careful to make sure his writing is legible, Hongjoong writes Queen City Orphanage in big cursive letters and drops the majority of his and Mingi’s cut into it before sealing it up and pocketing the packet. Continuing down the road, they round a corner and their car comes into view. They all file in methodically, Hongjoong in the driver’s side, Mingi has shotgun, and Wooyoung and Jongho have the back seat.

As he starts the engine, he hears all his boys click their seatbelts and he pulls out of his parking spot. The drive to the orphanage Mingi and him grew up in is a short one. A couple turns here and there, a stop sign or two, and they’re at Queen City Orphanage’s front gates. They pull up just short of the entrance, the area giving Hongjoong a sense of peace. They don’t visit as much as they should in Hongjoong’s opinion, but it’s always in the back of his mind. The orphanage is the only home Hongjoong’s known his whole life. He became the person he is today because of it and the people that work there. But it isn’t funded well.

A prominent memory he has from his youth is having to go without constantly because of the poor funding. He was young, yes, but there were always kids younger than him, kids that needed more help, kids that needed more attention. The amount of special needs children that get abandoned there just to not get the proper care they need is ridiculous. Hongjoong’s always had strong opinions about all this, the kids used to joke he was secretly the long lost son of an activist.

They have Jongho drop the donation in the orphanage’s mailbox, and it warms him that the old, broken thing has been fixed. The gate closing off the entrance has also been repaired, it used to hang ajar, unable to lock at all. Mingi and him are glad they can help, even if their way of helping isn’t the most morally sound.

At some point, he’s going to get Mingi to therapy. They can’t keep up this life of crime forever. Jongho re-enters the car and Hongjoong drives off as soon as he hears the seatbelt click. Their next stop before going back to university is the money order office. He makes good time driving there, the gang idly conversing as they go. When he pulls into a parking spot, Wooyoung hops out and closes the door with a soft thud. Hongjoong watches him go into the shop and hums along to Jongho’s chill music playlist.

Wooyoung comes out of there just as quickly, hopping back into the car holding his money orders. Again, when Hongjoong hears the seatbelt click, he pulls out and they’re heading back to university. The drive is smooth, the familiarity of it soothing in a way. Once he makes it to university, he drops Wooyoung and Jongho off at the administration office so Wooyoung can pay his university fees before they tack on the dumb expensive late fee. From there he drives around to the parking lot near their dorm building and parks.

“That went well,” Hongjoong says as he turns the car engine off, adjusting his shades on his face.

“Smooth as butter,” Mingi agrees simply as he hops out the car. “What do you wanna do now?” He asks as he closes the car door behind him.

“I might take a nap, I’m not sure yet. It’s still early, though. We can watch a movie later, if you want.” Hongjoong offers, falling in step with Mingi as they make their way to their building.

“Yeah, that’ll be fun!” Mingi accepts, smiling cutely. “I might study a bit while I wait.” He says easily and Hongjoong laughs. Mingi and studying? Hilarious.

The duo are walking towards their dorm when a familiar group of people catch their sight in the distance. Hongjoong spots San with some rather tall people surrounding him. He tries to grab Mingi’s hand and dip behind another building, deciding to take the long way around to their dorm since they literally just stole from the guys the day prior. The plan fails before Hongjoong can even try, though, because the guys spot them easily and wave at them.

Licking his lips nervously, Hongjoong glances up at Mingi before putting on his best smile when the group of boys get closer. “Hey,” Hongjoong greets, hitching his voice a little higher to sound happy to see them.

“I knew y’all looked familiar, the guys from the party!” Seonghwa beams as he moves slightly ahead of San and the others out of excitement. 

“Hongjoong!” San says excitedly. “And you must be Mingi, hi,” He’s friendly, that one. 

Mingi nods in greeting and waves for good measure, smiling big and bright. Hongjoong notices Yunho look Mingi up and down before the man speaks. “Do you guys live around here? I feel like I would’ve noticed you before.” He smiles a little, eyes lingering on Mingi a bit longer than necessary before looking back to Hongjoong. They lock eyes and Yunho has the decency to look embarrassed at being caught staring.

Hongjoong smirks at him before gesturing to the building further down the walk way. “Yeah, we’re in Spoons.”

Yeosang nods at the information. “Nice, me and Seonghwa are in Hang,” he tells them while gesturing to the building directly across from Spoons. Hongjoong takes a moment to be surprised. Who knew they were so close, yet so far, this whole time.

“How are you? You both were pretty trashed night.” San chuckles, remembering Hongjoong slurring his words before he left the party.

Hongjoong rubs the back of his neck, a brief chuckle leaving his lips. “Yeah, I’m a lightweight.”

“One cup did you in?” San teasingly questions, smirk growing on his face. 

“We can't all be tanks!” Hongjoong whines cutely.

San puts his hands up in mock surrender. “True, true,” he relents, smiling so brightly his dimples pop. “Tequila puts me on the floor so I get it. We should all hang out again, you guys seem cool.”

Hongjoong nods, “I’d like that.” San and him share a smile and Mingi subtly bumps into him. “Text me whenever,” Hongjoong adds before gesturing between Mingi and himself. “We both have tests this week so maybe any time after Thursday?”

“That works,” San agrees. “Maybe we’ll hang at my house this time.” He nods to himself, probably already making plans and Hongjoong nods along with him.

He couldn’t help but feel a little uneasy. Going back to a place they stole from is usually something Hongjoong would actively avoid but he can’t even remember what they lifted from him. He remembers the man’s house was cute but not overly decorated. They combined their hauls at Mr. Choi’s, and he vaguely remembers a few pieces not really warranting much pay out so maybe it’ll be alright. Worst case scenario, they can cancel. No harm in going along with plans right now.

They say their goodbyes, the groups going their separate ways, and Hongjoong and Mingi are swiped into Spoons and entering the dormitory’s lobby in no time. Hongjoong can barely call for the elevator before Mingi is squealing like a teenager and clutching Hongjoong’s shoulder like a vice. “Oh my god,” he squeaks, sounding unhinged and a little like he’s dying. “I don’t remember him being so damn diesel, what the fuck!”

“Mingi!” Hongjoong shouts, laughing at the boy’s dramatics. “Who, Yunho?”

“Yes, Yunho!” Mingi groans like he’s been hit. “He’s so big, I might start crying.” He puts his hands over his face and mumbles, “I just want a crumb of dick, just a crumb.”

“Desperate much,” Hongjoong teases, ushering them both into the elevator when it arrives. 

“Please let me thirst in peace.” Mingi moans, hands leaving his face to clutch at his heart. The elevator arrives at their floor and Hongjoong pulls his dramatic friend along with him to their shared room.

He swipes his room card with ease and the door beeps as it unlocks. Upon entering, they both step out of their shoes and continue on into the sitting area. Mingi shuffles into his room quietly and Hongjoong swerves into the kitchen looking for a snack. There’s voices coming from Jongho’s room so he figures the couple must have beat them home. “We’re back!” He calls out. Muffled greetings shout back at him. He moves to knock on Jongho’s door before speaking again in his inside voice. “I might have a plan.”

Jongho’s swings the door open revealing himself and Wooyoung already in their house clothes. “What’s up?”

At Yunho’s house, his gang and him are lounging in the basement of his huge home. The furniture is plush and dark. There's a wrap around couch in the farthest corner of the room that looks really comfortable. Yeosang sits nestled in the bend, legs spread comfortably for Seonghwa to fit in between. Yunho is on their left, back resting on the arm rest and one leg stretched out on the length of the couch towards his friends while the other long leg is curled under his body. San is laying as spread out as he can on the oversized ottoman just in front of the couch.

He’s shuffling a deck of Uno cards as he taps Yunho’s knee with his toes. The bigger man pays him no mind, though, too busy scrolling through his social media feed on his phone. San doesn’t mind. He’s mostly doing it because he can, not because he actually wants Yunho’s attention. The love birds are in their own world, talking lowly amongst themselves and generally ignoring the other two in the room.

San has an Uno deck in his hands but he’s just fiddling with it, not really in the mood to get his life threatened over a draw four. There’s more games hidden inside the ottoman under him. They didn’t want to start anything too crazy, their company would be here any minute and the last thing they needed was to already be yelling when they arrived. You need to ease people into their particular type of crazy, he thinks as he sets the cards down beside him.

Yunho’s grunting at whatever he’s looking at on his phone and San pokes him again, big toe digging into the dip where Yunho’s knee joints merge. Yunho grabs his foot, probably tired of San’s nudges, and swings it in his hand idly as he frowns at his phone. The man kisses his teeth and looks up from his phone, visibly annoyed.

“This bird app can’t be trusted for nothing, I swear. Can you believe they think Naruto would get smacked around by Frieza?” He’s speaking to the room but his grip on San’s foot tightens, so San takes it he expects an answer from at least him.

San darts his eyes to the couple in the corner of the room anyway for a second just to make sure it’s up to him to talk the nerd down. Seonghwa and Yeosang are still in their own world so San looks back at Yunho and opens his mouth. “Frieza? From Dragon Ball?”

Yunho’s face scrunches up. “What other show has a dude named Frieza, San, what. Yes, from Dragon Ball!” Exasperated, he pulls on San’s foot and San sees his life flash before his eyes when he almost falls to the floor.

He sits up with the flourish of a man reborn and wiggles his foot until Yunho releases it. “Naruto would definitely get smashed by Frieza. Dude gave Goku so much work they had to destroy a whole planet to get rid of him and still didn’t actually kill him. What’s Naruto gonna do with him? Turn into a naked lady?”

Yunho’s eyes go wide and he rushes to respond. “Naruto bodied all six of Pain and you want me to believe he’d lose to washed ass Frieza? Every time Frieza came up to them, he got KO’d. I oughta kick you out my house talking reckless like that.”

San leans towards Yunho and clasps his hands together. “Frieza brought nothing but heat to Goku and everyone in his gang! Had whole worlds whipped! Naruto became Hokage and what happened?” He tilts his head to the side and lifts his eyebrows in defiance. “His kid disrespects him and no one cares about him. He's sorry! Frieza wouldn’t put up with none of that!”

Yunho leans forward as well, never one to back down from a challenge, and he clutches San’s knees as he argues. “Frieza’s whole squad left him as soon as they realized he wasn’t shit without them! Have you not seen the Broly movie?”

“Oh?” San blinks. “No, I haven’t.”

Yunho draws back in surprise. “Wait, bro, really? Hold on, that’s unacceptable. We’re fixing that immediately.”

“Doorbell,” Seonghwa chimes in a sing-song voice, surprising Yunho and San apart. 

“How’d you hear that?” Yunho questions. 

“You’re maid just called down.” Yeosang answers with a shrug. He’s got one hand wrapped around Seonghwa’s waist and the other gesturing to the stairs going up to the main floor.

Jumping up, Yunho makes his way across the basement to the staircase. Taking the stairs two at a time, he makes it to the top quickly. 

“Someone’s excited,” San calls after him teasingly. 

Yunho shuffles to the front door and opens it quickly, happy to see Hongjoong and his friends waiting there. Mingi was standing just behind Hongjoong, clearly visible behind his shorter friend. Wooyoung and Jongho stood hand-in-hand on the other side of Hongjoong. “Glad you all could make it!”

“Thanks for inviting the riff-raff,” Hongjoong points to himself and the others. “Hope you don’t mind we brought some drinks.” Mingi lifts up his hands, showing off a bag full of alcohol and smiling. 

Yunho steps to the side to let all the boys in, noting the looks on their faces as they step inside. The foyer houses a massive chandelier, the light bouncing off the crystals brilliantly. A staircase lines each side of the foyer, the stairs meeting in the middle of the room on the second floor. Everything was so spotless, one wouldn’t believe major parties happen there regularly. 

“Come on, the others are in the basement.” Yunho grins as the boys shuffle behind him and follow him a few paces to under the staircase on the left where the door to the basement was. 

The stairs were brightly lit, providing enough light for Hongjoong and the others to not fall as they make their way down. “You’re home is beautiful,” Mingi says in amazement, “didn’t know you had a basement.”

Coming down the stairs, Yunho points to the couch and other chairs surrounding the area in the middle of the room and smiles again, big and friendly. “Have a seat anywhere you’d like.”

“You guys made it!” San says happily from his position on the ottoman. 

“Yeah, we brought some things with us, too.” Hongjoong functions as the spokesperson for everyone.

“What are you all up to?” Mingi asks as he takes in the scene in front of him. San watches as the group of boys seem somewhat uncomfortable. The ones named Wooyoung and Jongho are holding hands, while Hongjoong and Mingi have nervous looks on their faces. Cute. 

“They were being nerds,” Seonghwa lifts himself from between Yeosang’s legs and quickly closes the distance between him and the new group of boys. “Whatcha bring?” Seonghwa is nosey and in a short amount of time already picking through the bag in Mingi’s hands. 

Mingi innocently hands the bags over to Seonghwa. The man is seen happily taking them to the small kitchenette in the corner of the basement. Wooyoung and Jongho follow the man to the corner. They start unloading the bag and gathering cups for everyone. 

“If you want to be on the floor in five minutes, get him to make you a drink.” San teases, pointing to Seonghwa who seems to be talking Jongho and Wooyoung’s ears off in the corner.

“He’s a lightweight, that’ll be no problem,” Mingi’s face scrunches up as he smiles and ducks down to playfully ruffle Hongjoong’s hair. 

San notes the closeness of Mingi and Hongjoong, wondering if they were like Wooyoung and Jongho. That would certainly change his plans. Only a little bit, though. San already set his eyes on Hongjoong, he wasn’t going to get thrown off course that easily. He should ask about their relationship eventually, though.

“Well, I can’t help it.” Hongjoong pouts cutely as he swats Mingi’s hand away from his head. 

“You drink?” Yunho questions Mingi, a hidden gleam in his eye. 

“Yeah, of course,” Mingi answers easily.

“Let’s see what Seonghwa can make you.” Yunho directs his full attention to Mingi. San watches the two gravitate towards each other, entering their own world as they continue talking about whatever. Hongjoong is left standing by himself and moves closer to San where he takes a seat on the edge of the couch.

“So, Uno?” Hongjoong asks San. A little slow, San looks down at the cards discarded on the ottoman then back up to Hongjoong.

“I’m not looking to ruin any friendships tonight.” San grins back at him.

“Yeah, me and mine can get pretty competitive, too. Can’t disrespect anyone in their own house.” Hongjoong shrugs, smirking.

“Is that a challenge?” San smirks back, leaning into Hongjoong’s space. “We love challenges, don’t we boys?”

Yeosang grunts from his seat on the couch, preoccupied by something on Seonghwa’s phone and Yunho whoops his agreement from across the room midconversation with Mingi. Seonghwa’s voice spikes high in the kitchenette as he yips out a squeaky laugh at whatever Jongho and Wooyung are saying to him before speaking loud enough for the whole room to hear. “These guys are funny!” He exclaims, slapping their shoulders in elation. “Let’s play an ice breaker game. Ooo, something juicy!” He takes a moment to think, methodically taking out red solo cups as he does so. “Never have I ever?”

“Challenge!” Hongjoong excitedly lets out. San thinks it’s the cutest thing. 

“Seonghwa, bring those drinks over here, please.” San doesn’t take his eyes off Hongjoong’s as he calls to Seonghwa. He can hear shuffling and mumbling coming from Seonghwa’s side of the room, but that didn’t matter to him.

Seonghwa, along with the help of Wooyoung and Jongho, brings over all the alcohol, cups, and a jug of juice to mix with, just in case, and place everything on the small coffee table next to the ottomen. As the boys finish placing everything somewhat neatly, Seonghwa sits to the right of Yeosang and immediately curls into the man’s side, giggling into his ear. He looks at the couple that helped him and gestures beside Yeosang. “Sit, sit! Help yourself to a drink, too, if you want. Thanks for bringing it, you didn’t have to.” Seonghwa’s so nice, San thinks. Always making sure people feel comfortable around him.

Wooyoung sits on the other side of Yeosang, the two nodding in acknowledgement at each other. Jongho plops down right beside Wooyoung and slings an arm around his shoulder. He waves a peace sign at Yeosang and shoots a smile his way. The four of them start conversing amongst themselves and San spares a glance Yunho’s way only to see that the man basically has Mingi backed against a wall, one arm caging him in as they talk way closer than necessary. Mingi looks receptive, though, if the flirty smile he’s sporting is anything to go by. Maybe he doesn’t have to ask about Hongjoong and Mingi’s relationship after all.

Not one to turn away from shooting shit at his friends, San grins toothily as he calls out to Yunho. “Hey, hot shot! You can flirt later, the party’s over here!”

Mingi’s eyes dart at San before going back to looking at Yunho and San can almost make out a blush on his cheeks. Yunho turns around and he’s so smooth with how he grabs Mingi’s hand to lead him to the couch, San almost wants to applaud him. The two walk the short distance from the wall to the couch and Mingi gently sits beside Hongjoong, leaving a spot between himself and Jongho for Yunho to sit. The couch is so big, all the boys fit comfortably on it. If San wanted, there was room for him beside Seonghwa, but that would put him too far from Hongjoong. He can’t have that.

“Never have I ever, right? Everyone knows the rules?” Yunho questions as Mingi hands him a drink. 

Everyone nods in agreement, each person getting a drink handed to them, Seonghwa and Mingi working together to pour them. Drinks in hand, they were ready to start playing. “I’ll go first,” San announces, not leaving much room for anyone to object. “Never have I ever cheated on an exam!” He blurts out. Hongjoong is the first to lower one finger out of five. Seonghwa and Yunho are quick to follow him. The trio take a sip of their drinks and Hongjoong clearly thinks the drink is too strong, a slight frown on his face as the alcohol works through him. 

“Cheaters,” Mingi jokes as he pours Hongjoong a cup of juice. The older man takes it gratefully, taking a big gulp and knocking elbows with his big friend.

“You’re one to talk. I know for a fact you've cheated, too.” Hongjoong goads back at Mingi, laughing goodnaturedly as he does so. His laugh is infectious San can’t help but think. He couldn’t help but laugh as well. Mingi chuckles nervously as he lowers one of his fingers and the room bursts with laughter. 

“There’s no judging here.” San assures, eyes flickering from Hongjoong to Mingi then back to the crowd. 

Seonghwa waves his splayed hand and says, “Me next!” And purses his lips as he thinks. “Okay, easy one. Never have I ever stolen before.” 

Mingi’s eyebrows shoot up and he scratches his head before speaking. “What qualifies as stealing?” He questions, seeming hesitant to put his finger down. 

“Uh, taking something that isn’t yours.” Yeosang says obviously. 

“Isn’t the concept of ownership outdated? Capitalism is a pyramid scheme.” Mingi says sagely.

Wooyoung raises his cup and squeaks out a small, “Eat the rich!” Mingi raises his cup in kind and they stretch to clink their cups together. The stretch puts Mingi’s torso right in Yunho’s lap and San has to stop himself from teasing him about it. He’ll save that for later.

“Felt that,” Yunho chuckles, looking more like he’s plotting on Mingi than anything. “But for the game let’s pretend stealing is bad.” Mingi goes to sit back upright and looks Yunho right in his eyes as he drinks from his alcohol cup, putting another finger down as well. Hongjoong follows him.

“What’d you take?” Seonghwa asks, taking a big gulp of his drink anyways. Rules don’t apply to him. 

“Candy,” Hongjoong chirps quickly. Mingi shrugs nonchalantly, taking one of the cups in Hongjoong’s hands and downing it in one go. It must have been the juice because he doesn’t react at all, just pops his own alcohol cup in it and continues on with his life.

San ponders which juice he drank, there’s quite a few options on the table beside him, but he’s quickly distracted by Yeosang humming in acknowledgement. “Mood. I’d do just about anything for a tootsie roll pop.”

Jongho laughs, his smile bright even in the low light of the basement. “That’s what I’m talking about, a man with taste!” And they click cups, too.

“Okay,” Yeosang says as he leans back into his seat and smirks. “How about never have I ever been a nerd and argued about which anime dudes would win in a fight.”

Yunho explodes into action, his smile threatening to split his face. “Fuck you, I was right!” He’s bouncing in his seat and leans forward to better see around Jongho. He looks a little crazy when he gets this impassioned and San feels himself giggle at him.

Yeosang finds it hilarious, too, and he laughs as he speaks. “Freezer beats who again?”

San coughs in his haste to tell Yeosang to put some respect on Frieza’s name, but Yunho talks loudly over him. “Frie _za_ isn’t beating anyone and, you know what,” he uses his hand with the alcohol cup in it to point at his offending friend. “Never have I ever had sex in public!”

Seonghwa squeaks loudly and sharply but San’s too busy trying to collect his jaw from the floor to pay attention. “Yooooo!” He yells. Turning to face Yeosang dead on, San grins like a cat who got the cream. “Seonghwa prissy ass let you hit in public?!”

“Prissy?!”

“Bro!!!!!” He stands up and reaches to high five Yeosang, impressed beyond belief.

Yeosang is red hot all the way to his neck and Jongho looks at him in amazement, as well. “Wow,” the man says, awe clear in his voice and his tone soft. “I wanna be like you when I grow up.”

Wooyoung immediately smacks him square in the chest for the comment. “Absolutely not!”

San looks to Hongjoong to see his reaction, but the man was looking at Mingi. The taller male is seen with his hands in his lap, knuckles white, his body tensing every time someone raises their voice. San is curious, but something else grabs his attention.

“Never have I ever let someone spit in my mouth!” Seonghwa, clearly still embarrassed, blurts out.

Yunho stands up like someone lit a fire under his ass. “It wasn’t spit! San waterfalled a shot in my mouth!”

“San?!” Hongjoong and Jongho twin out. 

“Me?!” San chokes on air.

Wooyoung moves his arms into a ‘T’ shape in between Yeosang and Yunho, his drink sloshing with the movement. “Time out, time out. Story time, please, I think we all need a drink after that one.”

The party went on with everyone in high spirits after that. Drunk story time is a hit and the two groups were quick to get close and friendly. Several rounds and drinks later, they’re all pretty rowdy. Hongjoong looked hot, fanning himself despite the natural chill the basement has going for it. San looks over to Yunho, who seems fine for the most part, in contrast to Mingi who’s giggling to himself and leaning bodily onto Hongjoong. San’s mind is a little hazy but he’s glad Mingi isn’t feeling down anymore, or whatever that was. Wooyoung and the others in the corner are also going through it. Wooyoung looks like he’s swaying a little in his spot, while Seonghwa is in a similar state, leaning on Yeosang sleepily. 

While Yeosang and himself were comfortably buzzed, Jongho and Yunho were more or less sober, if not completely sober in Jongho’s case. Hongjoong would occasionally laugh to himself and it seems like their activities are starting to fade into the background. Some members aren’t able to play anymore, anyway. 

“I have to go to the bathroom!” Mingi suddenly announces as he grabs onto Hongjoong’s arm to steady himself. 

“I can show you the way,” Yunho offers, already moving to get up. 

Mingi waves him off, head shaking from side to side, “No, no, don’t get up, I can find it.” Mingi rests his hands on Hongjoong and Yunho’s thighs as he stands on wobbly legs. San tries not to laugh at the let down look on Yunho’s face as Mingi denies him the simple pleasure of walking him to the bathroom. “It’s right over there,” San points at a door just off the kitchenette.

Mingi blinks down at San’s face before turning and knocking his knee against Hongjoong’s legs as he passes him.

“Ow,” Hongjoong bemoans, pouting, before wiggling in his seat. “Oh, wait, no!” He suddenly exclaims, standing so abruptly, Mingi has to hold on to him so they both don’t fall. “I have to go, too.”

Yeosang chimes in from further down the couch. “Just go together. We’re all guys, it’s fine.” He lets out a tiny burp at the end and sips from the cup he confiscated from Seonghwa. Jongho and Wooyoung’s heads bounce back and forth between all the people talking while Seonghwa seems to have given up on keeping up with anything that isn’t the back of his eye lids.

Hongjoong frowns and shakes his head. “I wanna go alone.” And he awkwardly shimmies him and Mingi from the couch to the middle of the room. “I call this one because I’m older.”

It’s Yunho’s chance to shine again. “I can take you upstairs, Mingi,” he offers, a sweet smile in place and ever the gentleman.

“Uhh,” Mingi says intelligently. Poor guy, San thinks, he must be a lightweight, too. “You don’t have to, you look comfy.” He moves towards the stairs and stumbles on his way. Yunho shoots up to rush to his side.

“It’s fine, don’t worry, I’ll take you up.” Yunho looks back at San and the boys. “Be right back guys!” He places a hand at the small of Mingi’s back and starts to usher him to the stairs, Hongjoong having already gone into the bathroom in the basement.

Yunho and Mingi don’t get far before San sees Wooyoung stand and shuffle his way to the stairs as well, murmuring about how he also needs to go. San watches as Yunho pauses to wait for the smaller man and ushers him up the stairs as well.

Hongjoong comes out of the bathroom quick enough, hands a little shiny from washing them no doubt. San sees Jongho stand to help him get back to the couch. Poor little buddy was swaying dangerously with every step. San almost felt himself coo, but held it in.

“We should probably go when Mingi comes back.” Jongho wraps Hongjoong’s arm around his neck to give the other support. 

“Yeah, that’s probably best.” San agrees easily. Seonghwa was already trashed and Yeosang looks tired.

Yeosang's face scrunches up in worry. “Are you okay to drive?”

“Yeah, I’m totally fine,” Jongho pumps up his chest in pride. San doesn’t remember him drinking anything but juice, even in their little drinking game he vaguely remembers his boyfriend taking his shots for him. He’s comfortable with them all leaving if Jongho drives.

Speak of the devil, Mingi and Wooyoung bumble their way back down stairs, bumping into each other on their way down and laughing. Yunho follows behind them, a small smile on his lips. 

“Ready to go?” Jongho turns, Hongjoong still having his support, and looks at Wooyoung and Mingi. 

“Yep!” They chirp in unison as they link hands.

“Thanks for inviting us. It was fun.” Jongho chuckles. San almost felt bad the man had to deal with three drunkards. Luckily for San and his boys, Yunho has no problem with them spending the night. 

“Bye!” Hongjoong suddenly perks up and waves at San happily, before his eyes close again and his head is leaning on Jongho’s shoulder. 

Yeosang picks up Seonghwa’s wrist and makes the sleeping man wave at them. “Bye, guys. Get home safe.”

As Yunho goes to show the boys out, San calls out behind them, “Text me when you guys are home!” He gets an affirmative from Jongho and he smiles as he sees them disappear up the stairs.

Jongho is just pulling away from Yunho’s mansion of a house when Mingi grunts from the back seat. “I maintain if I had sucked his dick, the plan would’ve worked.” He’s slouching, ams folded over his chest, and a pout is etched deep into his face.

“Mingi stop being a whore challenge: failed.” Hongjoong murmurs. Acting drunk always tires him out.

Wooyoung looks at Mingi quizzically from beside him. “How would you blowing him get the necklace back in his parents room?”

“Maybe he gets sleepy after he nuts, I don’t know!”

“Mingi!” Wooyoung stretches a little to boop the taller man square on the crown of his head. “He took us to the downstairs bathroom! Where would he sleep? On the floor?”

Mingi pouts as he stomps his feet childishly. “Maybe if all of us had acted drunk they would’ve let us sleep over.”

“He’s rich. He would’ve called us an Uber.” Jongho deadpans. 

“He clearly likes you, you’re the one we needed drunk.” Hongjoong speaks from the passenger seat. His body is turned slightly so he has a good view of almost everyone in the car sans Wooyoung who is sitting directly behind him.

“I tried my best! Sorry for not being weak to alcohol!” Mingi complains, his fist banging on the back of Jongho’s headrest. Jongho’s head jostles slightly from the impact, but he’s tired so he let’s it slide this time. 

“Ugh, that was the perfect chance while everyone was in the basement,” Hongjoong relents. How in the hell were they going to return the heirloom now? 

“We need another party or something.” Wooyoung slurs slightly, the only one who actually drank enough alcohol to feel its effects. “Something with more people, more distractions.”

“There has to be another way into his house. If we’re lucky, Mingi can get us another invite.” The wheels turning rapidly in Hongjoong’s head, thoughts swirling together rapidly as he stares into the distance. 

“Why don’t I send him some flirty texts.” Mingi’s eyes light up at his own idea. “I’m supposed to be drunk or whatever, that can be my excuse.”

Hongjoong laughs as he fires back, “You whore, you just want to fuck him.”

“You want his friend!” Mingi immediately responds, causing Wooyoung to take a sharp breath. Everything feels like brand new information when you’re buzzed.

“He’s got you there,” Wooyoung chuckles, his head resting against the cool window. 

“I’ll think of something.” Hongjoong mumbles as the car pulling into the parking lot for their dorm. “Wait, Mingi, you’re a genius! Text him quickly!” It finally resonates with Hongjoong the point Mingi was making.

“Already on it, boss,” Mingi mock salutes as he whips out his phone. He types something lightning quick and there’s a tiny whoosh sound as it sends.

“Get out, losers,” Jongho says as he parks the car hurriedly, excitement for his bed coursing through him. He walks around and helps Wooyoung out of the car and almost drags his boyfriend to the back of the car to wait for Mingi and Hongjoong.

As they walk to their building, they hear Mingi’s phone ping and Mingi lazily checks it. “Oh, he’s cute,” Mingi laughs. “He’s telling me to go to sleep and text him tomorrow.”

Wooyoung squints up at him, the street lights too bright for his sensitive eyes. “Did he use emojis?”

“Yep, a bunch.”

“Let me see, let me see!” Wooyoung chants, letting go of Jongho’s hand to get in Mingi’s space. “Ooooo, smileys and hearts? Adorable. Send him a nude.”

Mingi’s typing as he mumbles back to Wooyoung. “I don’t think I have any on my phone right now but I’ll check.”

“Who said romance is dead.” Hongjoong says a little too sarcastically.

“You just want a goodnight text, too.” Jongho grins as he claps Hongjoong’s shoulder.

Speaking of texts, two phones ring at similar times. Hongjoong looks at his phone to see it’s a message from San. Biting back a smile, he places his phone back in his pocket and continues to walk.

“Ooo, that must be it.” Wooyoung latches onto Hongjoong and pinches his cheek. “It’s so hard for you to hide that smile.”

“Shut up,” Hongjoong says, but there's no heat behind it. San was asking if they got home alright. Hongjoong will respond later, once he’s in his bed. He’ll make sure to misspell some words and not use punctuation to sell the act. Maybe he’ll flirt, too, who knows. 

As they walk through their dorm entrance, Mingi’s face is buried in his phone, long fingers tippy tapping away to Yunho. The ding’s are coming much more frequently. Mingi’s a man on a mission right now.

They’re walking into their actual dorm when Mingi barrels past them heading for his room. “Gotta take some nudes real quick. Night, guys!”

Wooyoung is hot on his heels. “Wait! You gotta make them tasteful! Don’t let him know you’re a whore yet!” They slam Mingi’s door behind them. Jongho swerves towards his own room.

“That’s our cue to go to sleep. Good night, Jong.” Hongjoong wanders into his room and closes the door behind him.

Yeosang and Seonghwa’s dorm room is absolutely brimming with activity.

Their living room area has an ugly orange couch that sits directly across from their large, flat screen television, which has some random show playing for background noise. Yeosang is sitting with his legs spread wide on one end of the couch while his friend Yunho is sitting on the other end, his legs also spread comically wide. To the side of them, their smaller friend, San, is relaxing in a beanbag chair. All of them are surrounding a small coffee table where Seonghwa is tending to a teapot, carefully pouring cups for his guests.

“I can’t believe how much you drank last night! How are you even alive?” San questions Yunho who seems perfectly fine. 

“I like to think it’s because I’m strong,” Yunho replies cheekily, flexing his guns San’s way. 

“Strong my ass, it’s because you’re big.” Seonghwa jokes as he finishes pouring his friends tea and starts passing out cups.

“What’s your excuse? You’re tall, too!” he fires right back and Seonghwa squawks at the slight.

“Hongjoong’s tall friend, Mingi, seemed pretty sloshed, too. It’s not just you, Seong.” San winks at Seonghwa as he swirls the tea in his cup.

“He was something, alright.” Something gleams in Yunho’s eyes as he thinks back to the tall man that he ended up texting all night. He blushes just thinking about it.

Yeosang chuckles into his cup, “You left pretty quickly after they did. Wonder what was so interesting on your phone.” He blows on his drink carefully before continuing to speak. “But, I will say it’s more shocking that San remembers anyone that wasn’t Hongjoong.” He smirks as he sips at the hot beverage.

San purses his lips, pouting, “Sue me, I have a type.” He makes grabby hands at Seonghwa and the older man hands him creamer without sparing him a second glance.

“What about him makes him your type?” Yunho genuinely questions.

“He seems confident,” San nonchalantly speaks before taking a sip of his tea. “Friendly. And pretty.”

“You’ve always liked the pretty ones,” Seonghwa comments, twinkle in his eye as he walks around to the couch, motions for Yeosang to move his cup then all but lays on him, fitting comfortably between the man’s wide spread legs. Yunho and San don’t even blink at Seonghwa’s antics.

“Hey, Yunho has a type, too! It’s not just me!” San whines, tea sloshing in his cup when he flails his arms in protest.

“It’s not a bad thing to have a type!” Yunho retorts, laughing as a loud ‘ding’ sound emanates from his pocket. He ignores it in favor of continuing on. “You can like twinks, San, that’s okay.”

San almost chokes on his tea. “Twinks!” He shouts. Yeosang and Seonghwa are laughing so hard they’re wheezing and San can’t help but laugh along with them. “If I like twinks, you like bears!”

Yunho’s face lights up, his grin threatening to split his face wide open. “Bears?! In what world would Mingi be a bear?”

Another ‘ding’ chimes from Yunho’s pocket but they’re too distracted to notice. “He’s tall enough!” San immediately counters.

“Being tall doesn’t mean you’re a bear?” Another ding.

“Sounds like something a bear would say.” San explains through giggles.

Seonghwa snorts at that and Yeosang wheezes. Two dings come in rapid succession and Yunho cackles as he finally adjusts to pull his phone out of his pocket. “I’ll take that as a compliment.” Yunho finishes his thought then looks down to see a barrage of texts from his mother.

Opening his phone, Yunho scrolls through the messages to see what was going on. While the others kept joking around, Yunho fell silent. Seonghwa was the first to notice the knit brows on his friend’s face. “What up, Yunnie?” 

“My folks can’t find a necklace my great great grandpappy passed down. They wanna know if I moved it.” Yunho felt dread sink into his gut. “They think someone stole it.”

“You mean the necklace with the blue sapphire?” Yeosang questions. 

“Yeah, with some other things,” Yunho completes as he locks his phone’s screen and looks at the others. “Who the fuck would steal from us?” Yunho quickly ran through who was invited and who all actually showed up.

Seonghwa frowns and fidgets around a bit. “Shit, man, we have to find that necklace. It means everything to your mom.” He says finally, tone serious. He rises up from his seat in Yeosang’s lap. “Do you think it was the party we had last week? Maybe she should report it to the police.” He reasons.

Yunho scowls. “Whoever took it is dead.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dun, dun, dun!!!!!!
> 
> we're having so much fun writing this, hope you all are enjoying reading it! pls leave kudos or comments it makes us feel good!


	3. Chapter 3

Yunho’s sitting in his lavish family room on the main level of his house, lounging comfortably while talking on his phone. It’s a group video call with his squad, San, Seonghwa, and Yeosang, and he’s sighing as they try to cheer him up.

 _“Don’t sweat it, man,”_ San placates. He’s slurping on a juice box and his dimples pop whenever he sucks too hard. _“You’re folks already reported it. The police are on it.”_

 _“Yeah,”_ Seonghwa butts in. Him and Yeosang are together, of course, lazing around in their dorm room. _“Mingi’s coming over soon, right? Try to loosen up. Have fun tonight.”_

Yeosang sticks his head in the video, pushing Seonghwa to the side. _“Enjoy your dick appointment, loser. Worry about the necklace later.”_

 _“I almost forgot you had a dick appointment! Yeah, everything will work itself out.”_ San is seen shaking his now empty juice box before tossing it somewhere off camera.

Yunho huffs. “It’s not a dick appointment! Can’t two friends hang out platonically without their dicks touching?”

 _“You’re in the wrong friend group for that convo.”_ San teases with a sly smile.

“Anyway!” Yunho says loudly. The doorbell rings almost exactly as he opens his mouth to speak again. “That should be Mingi. Talk to you guys later.”

 _“Get your dick wet, bro!”_ Yeosang yells and their screen blacks out.

 _“Bye, dude.”_ San grins before clicking off. 

Yunho moves to get up, legs swinging over the couch to carry him to the front door. Taking a steady inhale, Yunho opens the door to reveal a red faced Mingi. He looks sheepish, a charmingly small smile on his face that has a relaxing effect on Yunho who has been stressed for the past couple of days. Yunho smiles back at him and takes his hand to lead him into the house.

“You made it,” Yunho says happily. The last time he saw Mingi, he was receiving some rather racy photos to say the least. Seeing him up close now made those images pop back into Yunho’s head. Shaking his head slightly, Yunho looks back at the cute boy in front of him.

“Yeah,” Mingi stands awkwardly in front of Yunho, hands fidgeting by his side and barely holding eye contact. They walk further into the house together and it’s clear Mingi has a lot on his mind. Yunho wonders what is bothering him so much.

“I’m not like that!” Mingi suddenly speaks up, much to Yunho’s surprise. 

“Like what?” Yunho questions as he guides Mingi to the family room. 

“Those pictures. I was drunk and,” Mingi is stammering over his words cutely, “I don’t just send those to anyone.” He’s patting his red cheeks with his free hand and Yunho has to hold himself back from cooing. 

Who is he kidding, he can’t help but coo a little bit. “Aww, don’t worry, I deleted them.” They finally make it to the family room and Yunho guides them to sit on the couch. “Maybe next time you won’t be drunk when you send them.” He winks for good measure and is delighted when the blush travels down Mingi’s neck.

Yunho picks up the television remote and presses the on button. “You into movies or are you more of a TV show kind of guy? I also have video games, if you want.” He looks at the boy next to him expectantly. Mingi appears to think on it for a bit, plump lips pouting and eyes looking up at the ceiling before he answers. “Let’s watch a movie. I like rom-coms.”

Yunho smiles and starts tippy tapping away with the remote. “Good, I know just the one!”

They get comfortable, Yunho bringing in snacks to munch on as they watch their movie. They settle into a comfortable silence, laughing and talking amongst themselves as the characters do dumb shit on the television. They’re over half way through when Mingi shivers slightly and turns to face Yunho. “It’s brick in here,” he complains, pouting while doing so.

“You’re cold?” Yunho asks. Looking at Mingi, his skin does have little goose bumps freckled all around. He supposes the room could be a little cold if you aren’t wearing a hoodie and sweats like he is. “I can get you a blanket,” he offers, moving to get up only to be stopped by a hand on his knee.

“I have a better idea,” Mingi smirks softly. Slowly, he leans into Yunho’s side, curling inward to tuck himself under Yunho’s arm. He grabs Yunho’s hand and moves it to rest on the dip of his waist before settling comfortably in his new position.

Yunho tightens his grip on Mingi’s waist slightly before loosening it again. The movie can’t end quick enough. Eventually, the ending credits began to roll and Yunho feels Mingi shifting to look up at him. His eyes are unreadable, but Yunho can guess what he is thinking.

“Let’s go to your room,” Mingi’s voice is barely above a whisper. Yunho doesn’t waste any time, simply nods his head in agreement before standing up, urging Mingi to get up with him. With the other tight in his grasp, Yunho leads the way up the stairs to his bedroom. 

Just outside his bedroom door, Mingi slows them to a stop and kisses his lips. Yunho responds immediately, arms wrapping around Mingi’s waist pulling him impossibly closer. Yunho uses more force than he means to and pushes Mingi against his door frame. A small noise can be heard coming from Mingi in the process and it gasses Yunho to push the man into his room. He scrambles for the door knob and hurriedly walks Mingi backwards over the threshold.

He manages to push and tug Mingi to his bed without breaking the kiss. He twirls them around and sits on the edge of his bed, then pulls Mingi down to sit in his lap. Mingi straddles Yunho, hands resting on Yunho’s shoulders as they continue kissing. 

The kiss breaks shortly thereafter, Mingi letting out a shaky breath as his eyes lock onto Yunho’s. Yunho stares back at him, eyes clouded with lust. “What do you want to do?” Yunho questions.

Not answering him verbally, Mingi dives in to kiss Yunho again, taking time to suck on his bottom lip before he starts to trail down Yunho’s jaw to his neck, leaving a trail of hickeys in his wake. Yunho all but snatches off his hoodie and Mingi works his way down lower, sliding out of Yunho’s lap in the process until he is on his knees on the floor in front of the big man. They share another heat filled stare as Mingi rubs his hands up and down Yunho’s thighs. Yunho watches him through hooded eyes. He can feel the anticipation building within himself. 

“Can I?” Mingi questions, licking his lips in the process. 

Yunho nods his head eagerly, giving Mingi the green light to start undoing the tie on his sweatpants. His dick print is obvious and he can’t help but preen a little when he notices Mingi ogling it, his eyes lighting up with want as he frees Yunho’s erection. The rush of cold air sends a shiver down Yunho’s spine and his dick twitches. He sees Mingi look up once more before grabbing the base of his cock, half hard but already so fat in his hand. Yunho’s bottom lip is caught between his teeth as he grunts in pleasure.

Mingi pushes himself between Yunho’s legs, his lips coming into contact with the tip of Yunho’s dick. Yunho’s eyes flutter blissfully as Mingi’s warm mouth kisses the tip sweetly before sinking down the shaft. Head tilting back slightly, Yunho’s fingers card through Mingi’s hair, gripping loosely as Mingi starts bobbing his head up and down. He’s sucking on every upstroke and keeps his mouth hollowed when he goes back down. Yunho knows he’s big so Mingi’s skill in taking him is impressive and leaves him feeling a little in love. He’s getting close embarrassingly quickly. 

“Fuck,” Yunho curses, feeling the pit of his stomach tighten with his building release. He doesn’t have the motor skills right now to pull out of Mingi’s mouth, head hazy from the sensation alone. Mingi, regardless of what he said earlier, is very skilled at giving blow jobs. He’s enthusiastic and sucks like it’s the only thing he wants to do and he’s pretty while doing so. So pretty that Yunho looks at him and immediately feels himself reach his peak. Fuck, Mingi is good. 

Panting slightly, Yunho looks down at Mingi just in time to see him swallowing his load. Mingi wipes the corner of his mouth with his thumb and sucks on it coily. Yunho feels his dick twitch far too soon. His hand moves to caress Mingi’s cheek.

Mingi releases his thumb with a lewd pop. “I’m thirsty, do you mind me going through your fridge?”

“You can do whatever you want after blowing me like that,” Yunho says, dazed and in awe.

Mingi looks like an angel when he rises up. He even tucks Yunho’s cock back into his sweats, petting the bulge sweetly through the pants before heading to the door. “Do you want anything?”

“Your ass when you get back.”

Mingi laughs and closes the door softly behind him. Yunho relaxes into his mattress, feeling the edges of sleep call him. He finds himself thinking of Mingi in order to not fall too deep into slumber. He should start eating more fruit since Mingi’s a swallower. Mingi deserves a reward for how well he did. He was joking when he said ass, but maybe he’s serious now.

His door creaks open and he blinks himself out of his thoughts as he moves to look at the tall man that just blew him dry. He carries two glasses of water to the bed and hands one to Yunho before sitting down gingerly beside him, the mattress dipping with his added weight. “Just in case you get thirsty later.” Mingi says, his cute smile making Yunho’s heart skip a beat.

Yunho sits the glass on the nightstand next to his bed. “I’m thirsty, alright, but not for that.” He smirks and grabs Mingi's waist, mindful of the glass of water Mingi is nursing, and snakes his hands under his shirt.

Their night is just beginning.

The sunlight peaks out from the window and shines down on Mingi’s face, the warmth waking him up. His neck was warm and a little wet from the body cuddled up right behind him and Mingi does his best not to move too much to not wake Yunho up. He fishes for his phone and taps it quickly to open the screen.

10 AM. Class starts at 11 AM for Mingi and while Yunho’s house is close to campus, morning traffic is a whole bitch. He would have to leave in the next thirty minutes for being on time to be a possibility. Maybe he’ll call an Uber.

He’s moving slowly and carefully now, trying his best to sneak out like the one night stand he probably is to Yunho. He’s in his shirt and boxer briefs from yesterday but he’s not sure where his pants are. The mattress adjusts as he stands up and he hears Yunho groan from the movement.

He’s scanning the floor for his pants when Yunho’s deep, gravelly voice speaks up. “You’re up so early,” his voice laced with sleep but so smooth it’s kind of hot. “Come back to bed.” He smirks lazily. Oh, maybe he’s not a one night stand after all. Mingi has always been weak for men like Yunho, but he has to resist this time.

“I have class soon,” Mingi says as he continues searching for his pants. “Do you know where my pants are?”

“Just wear mine.” Yunho speaks sleepily as he rolls over to look at Mingi from his bed. 

Mingi’s face heats up at the thought, but seeing as he can’t find his own pants, he might as well take Yunho up on the offer. Mingi’s eyes fall on a pair of light wash jeans folded on the back of Yunho’s desk chair and he quickly grabs them and pulls them on. “I have to go soon.” He says, a little breathless. Yunho’s pants are kind of tight on him, he has to shimmy them over his thighs carefully.

“I’ll drive you,” Yunho says, more alert now, and he sits up in his bed. Mingi watches as Yunho swings his legs over the bed, standing to reveal he was only wearing boxers. The man picks up a pair of joggers from the floor and slides them on. He slides a t-shirt on as well, clearly not putting much effort into his last minute outfit but still looking good, regardless.

Yunho gives Mingi a once over and Mingi sees him stall while looking at his legs. When Yunho looks back at Mingi’s face there’s heat in his eyes, a promise they don’t have time to follow through with right now. He really can’t afford another tardy. “You want to stop and get something on the way?” Yunho asks Mingi in reference to breakfast. 

“Sure, let’s just go.” Mingi rushes out the bedroom door, sock clad feet slip sliding a little over the hardwood floor. Yunho chuckles after Mingi and sticks close behind him as they make their way downstairs. 

Mingi sees Yunho grab his car keys out of a bowl and walk to the front door. Mingi slides on his shoes and follows him out to his car quickly and hops into the passenger seat. Strapping himself in, Mingi waits for Yunho to start the car and pull out of his driveway expertly. Turning out of the neighborhood, Mingi watches the houses disappear as they turn onto the road. 

There is a drive-thru not far from Yunho’s house where Mingi orders a bagel and coffee with a bunch of added milk and sugars and flavor shots while Yunho gets just a black coffee to wake himself up. Before he knows it, Yunho is driving him to campus. The drive isn’t that long, but for Mingi it feels like forever due to his anxiety about being late to class again. This professor has it out for him and he missed the drop date so he just has to deal.

Finally, they arrive on campus where Mingi directs Yunho to drop him off. Pulling up to the front of the building, Mingi leans over to smack a sugary kiss on Yunho’s cheek before hurrying out of the car, thanking Yunho for the ride as he goes. He waves goodbye to Yunho and yells that he will text him once he is out of class. As Mingi goes away, Yunho chuckles and opens his phone to see if any of his friends are up and want to hang out since he’s on campus so early. 

Luckily, San responds quickly saying he’s on campus, too. Yeosang responds for himself and Seonghwa and it is set that they will meet at a nearby diner. Yunho arrives first and gets them a booth. It isn’t long before the trio is seen laughing and joking as they approach the booth Yunho is sitting at. Their waitress is on them quickly, greeting them and taking their orders before excusing herself to tell the kitchen.

“How was your night?” San teases as soon as she leaves. 

“Don’t you see how tired I look?” Yunho quirks a brow jokingly, but not really. He is actually tired from waking up earlier than he usually does. 

“You do look pretty exhausted, poor baby,” Seonghwa chuckles as he slides into the booth next to Yeosang, San sitting next to Yunho on the opposite side.

“So, bring on the details.” Yeosang demands as he picks up a menu to look it over. 

“I don’t kiss and tell,” Yunho smirks.

“Please, we know every detail about your sex life. You make sure of that.” San scoffs as he sits the menu down to stare at Yunho in disbelief. 

Their waitress comes over to drop off their food, briefly interrupting their conversation and Yunho smiles charmingly as he thanks her. “Well, it’s a new policy of mine.” Yunho grins as he keeps the details of what he and Mingi did to himself. 

“Well Mr. New Policy, is there anything you can tell us?” Yeosang questions. They’re all so curious.

“I’m waiting for him to text me after class.” Yunho divulges. 

“If he really likes you, he’ll text you while in class.” San chuckles. 

“Does Hongjoong text you while in class?” Yunho fires back. 

“His face is saying ‘no’.” Seonghwa bursts out laughing at the caught expression on San’s face. 

“I’m sure he does, I just don’t know his class schedule!” San pouts as he tries to defend himself.

While his friends continue talking, Yunho feels his phone buzz in his pocket. Excited, thinking it’s from Mingi, he pulls his phone out only to see it’s just a message from his mother. He unlocks his phone and absentmindedly reads over the text.

Wait.

They found the necklace?

He almost chokes on his pancakes. “The hell?” Yunho coughs, taking a sip of water to clear his throat. 

“What is it?” Yeosang questions. 

“The necklace. My parents found it.” Yunho clears his throat to speak to his friends. 

“Where was it?” San asks.

“Behind their dresser? We definitely would’ve seen it, we looked everywhere.” Yunho’s face holds a look of confusion as he tries to rationalize the magical appearance of the necklace. 

“That’s weird,” Seonghwa speaks with a mouthful of pancakes. 

“You sure you checked there?” San asks. 

“Yeah, several times.” Yunho speaks in disbelief. What happened? Thinking for a moment, he tries to remember what’s different about the first time he looked and now. He’s only had Mingi over since the whole situation happened. Could it be? No. Unless? Yunho’s mind starts whirling. 

Seonghwa swallows his food and gives Yunho his full attention. “What’s on your mind?” 

“I’m not sure?” Yunho is still trying to rationalize, not wanting to accuse anyone of stealing from him. 

“Whatever it is, it’s bothering you.” Yeosang says with concern laced in his voice. 

“It’s just, I can’t shake the feeling that it has something to do with Mingi?” Yunho admits to his friends. He feels bad for accusing the man but nothing else was out of the ordinary.

“Why?” Sans probes. 

“When it went missing only Mingi and his friends were the new people at my house. Then, when it turns up again, it was just Mingi and me in the house. Is that weird or am I thinking too much?” Yunho asks plainly. 

“Hm, you might be onto something.” San wonders. 

“You met them at your house, right San?” Yeosang begins connecting the dots. 

“Yeah. It was early and they were lost.” Now that San says it out loud, it does sound suspicious. “They were already parked and everything, I was just getting home.” Everything is getting more and more suspicious.

“Is anything missing from your house?” Seonghwa asks from the edge of his seat. 

“Yeah, actually,” San’s brows furrow at the realization. “Nothing big, but my mom mentioned she couldn’t find some of her jewelry. Do you think?” San looks to Yunho.

“Shit.” Yunho curses.

Everything suddenly makes sense. 

_**Yunho:** are you free later_

Mingi is just walking out of his class when he sees the text alert. He can’t help but preen a little. He has the hottest guy asking after him, after all. Who else can say that for themselves?

_**Mingi:** Yeah! Miss me already? ;)_

He pockets his phone and makes his way uphill to the center of campus. His next class is later on in the day, but it’s lunch time now. Him and his friends typically meet at the dining hall over there for lunch. He can’t wait to tell them how his night went. He also can’t wait to gloat about possibly getting another date.

He gets to the dining hall in record time and swipes himself in easily. Hongjoong and Jongho are already sitting at their usual booth hidden in the far off corner of the hall. He plopped into the vacant seat beside Hongjoong with flourish, sighing whimsically.

“Who’s doing it like me! Who! I’m literally so amazing,” Mingi gloats, pretending to flip his hair over his shoulder and leaning into his brother’s space heavily.

“It went that well, huh?” Hongjoong chuckles, closing the book he is reading to give Mingi his full attention.

Mingi straightens up and his smirk is big and bold as he puffs his chest out. “Better than well!” He snatches Jongho’s juice and takes a big gulp, smacking his wet lips after he’s done. “I think he likes me. We’re going to get married, I can feel it.”

“Well, I won’t be drinking that anymore,” Jongho mumbles as Mingi places the juice back in front of him.

Mingi slouches over the table, smirk absolutely wicked. “It’s okay, it’s just a little dick breath. Nothing you’re not familiar with.”

Hongjoong chokes on his toast and Jongho squawks so loud other tables turn to look at them quizzically. “Dude!” Jongho all but yells.

“Could’ve gone my whole life without hearing that,” Hongjoong coughs out. 

Mingi’s phone pings, but he’s too busy cackling to fish it out right now. “Seriously, though!” He says in between snorts and deep laughs. “I dropped the necklace and got the guy. Honestly, I’m the best of the best right now.”

“Yeah, yeah, all hail King Mingi. The best whore this side of campus.” Hongjoong indulges as he pats his own chest to sooth his coughing fit. He’s smiling though so he must be fairly amused at Mingi’s antics.

“Really living life,” Jongho says sarcastically.

“Anyways, glad you dropped the necklace. Are you going to see him again?” Hongjoong decides to direct the conversation elsewhere, not wanting to hear anymore sex details. 

That reminds Mingi! He pulls his phone out and taps to his and Yunho’s conversation. A short text waits for him.

_**Yunho:** can i call you_

“I think so,” Mingi says, sending a quick affirmative text back to Yunho. “He asked me if I’m free later, so I hope so.” He giggles like a school girl and tears off a piece of Hongjoong’s cookie. He pops it in his mouth before continuing. “Guess I’m just that skilled, he can’t get enough of me.” Mingi pokes the inside of his cheek in a vulgar manner that makes Hongjoong and Jongho scoff and roll their eyes. 

“Anyway! Make sure you don’t let him know about anything.” Hongjoong speaks in a serious tone. 

Mingi waves his hand dismissively and shrugs, “I doubt he’ll even bring it up. It’s over, we’re in the clear.” 

“Min, seriously,” Hongjoong warns again. 

“I know, I know,” Mingi relents as his phone starts ringing. The caller ID reads ‘Yunho’ and Mingi smiles, leaning back into his seat to answer the call. “Hello?”

 _“Mingi?”_ Yunho’s voice comes through Mingi’s phone. 

“Hey!” Mingi exclaims. “What’s up?”

 _“Can you meet me at Seonghwa and Yeosang’s dorm?”_ The tone in Yunho’s voice makes Mingi’s brows knit together. 

“Um, sure? You want the others to come with?” Mingi questions. Maybe Yunho wants to hang out with everyone again.

_“Yeah, they can come, too. I text you the time.”_

“Okay, see you later!” He says as a goodbye and hangs up. “We’re meeting up with Yunho and them later,” Mingi announces to the table. 

Mingi sees Hongjoong and Jongho nod at his news and he smiles. Rising to get some food from the lunch buffet, Mingi can’t help but be excited about their next hang out. He hasn’t stolen in a while, but he’s not feeling the itch like he normally would by now. Maybe it’s because he’s busy.

Maybe it’s because he’s surrounded by such nice people.

Hongjoong’s heart is racing for multiple reasons. He didn’t plan on seeing San and his friends so soon. Stealing from San is something that has been on his mind for a while now. They should probably look into buying his stuff back from Mr. Choi. Shouldn’t be hard, most of San’s stuff was fake so it didn’t sell for much. The whole situation makes Hongjoong feel awkward and uneasy. He’s never been around someone he’s stolen from like this. Knowing the real person attached to the objects always messed with his conscience.

“What’s going on in that head of yours?” Wooyoung asks as he walks alongside Hongjoong. They’re on their way to Seonghwa and Yeosang’s dorm. The sun was setting beautifully, the sky awash with pretty oranges and pinks. A light breeze makes Hongjoong fold his arms over his chest.

“Nothing,” Hongjoong lies. 

“He’s probably just excited to see San,” Mingi teases from the other side of Hongjoong and wraps his arm around Hongjoong’s shoulders seeing as the shorter male was clearly cold. 

“No I’m not,” Hongjoong mumbles in response. 

They stand outside Seonghwa and Yeosang’s dorm building waiting for someone to come let them in, talking amongst themselves as they do so. Just as Hongjoong is going to ask Mingi to text Yunho, they see Seonghwa come to the door to let them in. “Hello!” Seonghwa says in his usual cheery voice. 

“Hey,” Hongjoong responds with a smile. Seonghwa being so cheerful helps to put him at ease. 

The boys follow Seonghwa into the building and to a set of elevators to the right. Getting on, they go up to the third floor, where Seonghwa leads them to his and Yeosang’s shared dorm. Once they arrive at the room, Yunho is seen sitting on an orange couch next to San, legs spread wide and relaxed back into the seat. On the floor by the coffee table Yeosang sits with his legs crossed. The dorm is set up similar to Hongjoong and them’s, just two bedrooms instead of four. 

“What’s up?” Hongjoong greets cooly, despite his inner turmoil. 

“Nothing, we just wanted to hang out again.” San is the first to speak up, but Hongjoong feels like something is off. Yunho looks like he can barely look Mingi in the eye, Seonghwa is sitting next to Yeosang and not talkative like a few minutes ago, and San seems bothered by something. 

“Okay?” Wooyoung draws out. The air in the room was stifling. 

“Fuck it,” Yunho says, surprising Hongjoong and his home boys, “did you steal from me, Mingi?” Yunho asks directly. Hongjoong’s heart sinks instantly. Out the corner of his eye, he can see the others are just as shocked beside him. 

Awkward laughter bubbles out of Mingi’s throat. “What?” 

“Don’t bullshit me,” Yunho’s voice deepens with anger. 

“Yunho, I can explain—” Mingi starts, but Hongjoong cuts in.

“Yes,” Hongjoong responds flatly. He can feel the weight lifting off his shoulders, relief somewhat evident on his face. 

“Fucking hell,” San curses. “We were hoping we were wrong.”

Hongjoong feels cornered but he can’t show it, not when his boys need someone to keep the situation under control. “We’re sorry. We didn’t—”

“Oh, you’re sorry?” Yunho asks in disbelief, eyebrows shooting sky high, eyed never leaving Mingi. “You come into my house and steal my shit, then what? Suck me off and hope I don’t notice you putting it back?”

Mingi tears up, sniffling quietly beside Hongjoong. “If you would just let me expl—,” Hongjoong tries to speak, but is cut off by San.

“And you stole from me, too, didn’t you? That’s why you were outside my house.” San leans forward in his seat.

“San, I—” Hongjoong’s voice is practically begging at this point. 

“If you’re about to come up with an excuse, save it.” Yunho cuts him off before turning back to Mingi. “Do you suck everyone’s dick you steal from, Mingi? Fucking whore.” Yunho scoffs and rolls his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest.

Mingi gasps wetly, tears streaming down his face. “No! I’m not like that.”

“Hey, don’t talk to him like that!” Hongjoong raises his voice as he feels protective over Mingi.

“I’d watch what I say next if I were you.” Jongho steps in front of Mingi protectively. 

“You guys can’t be serious?” Yeosang says flatly, blinking up at the criminals in his dorm room. 

“If you all would let Hongjoong talk, we could explain everything,” Wooyoung chimes in with an annoyed tone, glaring dead at Yunho. 

“Fine,” Yunho says, tone deep and clipped. “Speak.”

Not liking feeling like a pet responding to its owner but needing to stand up for himself and his boys, Hongjoong reluctantly starts talking. “Trust me, we never thought it would go this far.” Hongjoong glups before continuing. “There are people we have to take care of. Wooyoung can’t afford school. He’s really smart, and—” Unfortunately, Hongjoong is cut short once again.

“No excuses,” Yunho barks, standing up from the couch menacingly. His presence feels like it takes up the whole room, his anger suffocating. Hongjoong feels Mingi’s trembling hand clutch his own. He doesn’t know what Yunho is capable of right now, and he doesn’t want to find out. 

“It’s not a fucking excuse! We all aren’t fortunate enough to live in a huge house with both parents!” Hongjoong finally explodes, frustrated with not being able to get a word in.

“I’m sorry your parents are trash, but what the fuck does that have to do with anything?” San says curtly. 

“Don’t talk about my parents.” Hongjoong voice lowers with the subject, his hand holding onto Mingi’s even tighter. 

“You’re the one who brought them up!” San raises his hands in mock defense. 

“If you guys are just going to be dicks, then we can leave. It’s not like you have proof. You can’t call the police.” Wooyoung states matter of factly with his hip popped out and a glare so intense he could set the whole room on fire.

“Police? You’re funny.” Yunho mocks, venom dripping from his words. “Who needs the police when we have hands.” He steps towards Hongjoong like a man on a mission and the whole room springs into action.

Hongjoong’s eyes widened as Yunho got closer, but Jongho steps in front of him immediately. Shoulders square, and stance wide, Jongho readies himself for the impending fight. Mingi is cowering behind him, and Wooyoung, never one to back down, looks ready to jump in with Jongho.

Yunho’s friends, in contrast, are loud with their protest. San jumps up, too, and moves close enough to Yunho to grasp at the bigger man’s arm, trying to pull him back. Yeosang and Seonghwa are standing now, as well, and both are scrambling to put some distance between Yunho and Jongho.

Hongjoong’s eyes dart to meet San’s, wondering if this was what he really wanted to happen tonight. This surely isn’t how Hongjoong thought their night would go down. Hongjoong takes a step back, putting more distance between Yunho’s crowd and himself, pushing Mingi back in the process. Hongjoong’s eyes hold hurt in them more than anything.

Behind him, Hongjoong could hear Mingi’s breathing getting louder. While the others were focused on stopping Jongho and Yunho from fighting, Hongjoong places his hands on Mingi’s shoulders. He’s seen this before and he always hated what comes next. “Just breathe Mingi,” Hongjoong says quietly, moving his hands from Mingi’s shoulders to hold his face steady. Mingi’s breathing is erratic and if he keeps it up he’ll surely pass out.

“Just look at me, it’s just you and me.” Hongjoong whispers calmly and begins taking slow even breaths to model for Mingi. Hongjoong completely tunes out his surroundings, Mingi being the most important thing to him right now. Mingi continues to hyperventilate and his legs give out. Hongjoong follows Mingi down to the ground and continues cooing and trying to get him to calm down. “What about the beach? Remember we have that trip planned for the end of the semester?” Hongjoong diverts Mingi’s attention elsewhere.

Finally Mingi’s breathing begins to even out, and Hongjoong sighs in relief. “Just keep thinking about the beach. The sand underneath your feet, the waves crashing, the sun shining.” Hongjoong is so lost with helping Mingi that he didn’t realize the room fell silent. Turning around he sees everyone looking at them with concern. “We should go.” 

“Yeah, that’s a good idea.” Seonghwa quickly announces. 

Hongjoong helps Mingi get to his feet and, with Wooyoung’s help, they support Mingi on their way out. Jongho lingers behind them and is the last one to leave the room.

“This isn’t over.” Yunho threatens.


	4. Chapter 4

The gang return to their dorm feeling lower than low. They’ve never seen the after effects of their heists, so seeing Yunho and San as angry as they were spooks them to their core. Hongjoong used to pride himself on his good intent, Robin Hooding his conscience into being clear after every pay out because, in his mind, he’s doing right by his orphanage and the kids that live and pass through there. Good intentions don’t mean what he’s doing is right, though.

Yunho was right to be mad and San was right to be upset. Yeosang and Seonghwa are right to have their friend's back. He shouldn’t have enabled Mingi’s kleptomaniac ways for so long. He shouldn’t have done it at all. Mingi’s in his room, under the covers with the lights off, decompressing from his anxiety attack. Hongjoong wants to give him some space, so he moves into the living room space of their dorm.

Jongho and Wooyoung are sitting on the couch not saying a word. They look upset and, again, Hongjoong feels bad. It’s his fault they’re in this mess in the first place. When he met Wooyoung and Jongho, they didn’t do this stuff. Wooyoung is smart, practically a genius, but he was working so hard and burning himself out trying to stay in school and graduate. Jongho was helping him best as he could, but they were both just as broke as Hongjoong and Mingi. But stealing is wrong, no matter what their motives are.

“I’m sorry, guys. I really fucked up,” Hongjoong sighs as he sits on the edge of the coffee table, forearms resting on his knees. 

“We all did,” Jongho admits. “We have to fix this.”

“How do we do that? They wouldn’t even listen to us.” Wooyoung clearly still feels frustrated. Frowning, he sinks further into the couch with his arms folded over his chest. “We’re not bad people.”

“I think if we can get San’s stuff back, it’s a start.” Hongjoong tries to find some way to solve the current situation.

“Don’t know why he was upset, it was fake anyway.” Wooyoung tutts. 

“Wooyoung,” Jongho warns. 

“Look, I’m sorry we stole from them, but I’m not sorry I paid my bills with the money,” Wooyoung rationalizes. 

“I know, Wooyoung, but you know they’re right to be upset.” He watches them deflate at that fact and sighs. “You wouldn’t be in this at all if it wasn’t for me. You could’ve just taken some loans out.” Hongjoong mutters. “And, you, Jongho. You’re loyal, and I respect that about you. It makes you a great person, but you really don’t gain anything from all this.” He sighs, dropping his head into his hands. “If I hadn't roped Woo into all this, you wouldn’t even be in this mess.”

Jongho frowns deeply. “This isn’t just your fault. We all knew the risks and we all still did it. We’re all in this together, we always have been and we always will be.”

“Still, I’m sorry.” They’re all Hongjoong’s responsibility. He got them all into this mess and, damn it, he’s going to get them out of it.

Wooyoung sighs. “Maybe we can show them we’re good people. That was my last payment this semester. You, Mingi, and Jongho still have some money left over. We can do something with that.”

“Like what?” Hongjoong questions. 

“Let’s focus on getting San’s stuff back,” Jongho speaks. “We already said we aren’t stealing anymore, so now we can live normally.” 

“We can apologize again, give them their stuff back, and then after that, whatever happens, happens. That’s showing effort in the right direction.” Wooyoung mutters to himself. 

“Yeah, okay. Let’s just get some rest for tonight.” Hongjoong moves to stand up from the table and stretch his arms towards the ceiling, relieving some of the tension in his body. Hongjoong dismisses himself and walks to his bedroom, stopping momentarily to peak into Mingi’s room before continuing on to his own. He closes his door behind himself and doesn’t bother turning on any lights. He gets under his covers and goes to sleep.

The weekend rolls in slowly, the boys having been in low moods since the whole big blowout happened. Conversation usually comes easily between them, but they find themselves not having much to say. They’re all hung up over what happened for their own reasons, Wooyoung’s sure, but it’s important to note that they can't let this eat at them forever.

Hongjoong has carried the weight of the world on his shoulders for as long as Wooyung has known him. He’s always taking charge, taking blame, taking blow after blow for them. He’s a good man, Wooyoung wouldn’t have been friends with him if he wasn’t, and he damn sure wouldn't have gotten into their little organized crime ring if he didn’t see him as someone trustworthy. Hongjoong is always second guessing himself though, constantly getting stuck on the what if’s and all that. Wooyoung keeps telling him ‘could’ve should’ve would’ve’ is a dangerous way to live your life. All they can do is take it one day at a time.

Mingi’s also taking it hard, Wooyoung thinks he actually did like Yunho despite all the joking around and white lies he did whenever they hung out prior to this. But mostly, Mingi told Wooyoung he feels bad because he made Hongjoong feel bad. He thinks it’s his fault Hongjoong is rattled. Their leader who usually carries himself as if he’s six feet tall has never looked smaller. Mingi feels that is his fault and no matter how much Wooyoung and Jongho tell him otherwise, he won’t hear it.

While Wooyoung’s conscience isn’t clear either, he holds onto things that he knows are factual to ground himself. Life is hard. Choices shape you as a person. What you say and do have consequences. He knows this, they all do. They can’t change the past, they can only better themselves for the future. They need to do what needs to be done for themselves, though, not for someone else.

San and Yunho are cool. Seonghwa and Yeosang are nice. Wooyoung is sure they are all swell, young guys, but Wooyoung doesn’t owe them anything more than an apology and a show of good faith. As they all sit in silence in Hongjoong’s car, a chill mix of music humming through the speakers, he can’t help but think that Hongjoong is fixating on making it up to them because they represent the countless people they’re done this to before now. Maybe he’ll corner him about it later.

Hongjoong parallel parks the car with ease and everyone unbuckles their seatbelts after he turns off the vehicle. When they’re all out and on the sidewalk, Wooyoung decides to switch it up and grab hold of Hongjoong’s hand, pulling him to walk beside him and just behind Mingi and Jongho.

“Buddy,” Wooyoung starts.

“No,” Hongjoong immediately answers. “Whatever it is, I don’t wanna hear it.”

Wooyoung kisses his teeth. He sees Jongho and Mingi in front of them walk a little faster, chatting in low tones as they put a bit of distance in between them and that’s as much of a go ahead he’s ever going to get right now. “Well, I really want to say it.”

Hongjoong sighs, “What if we don’t have enough to buy the stuff back?”

“We do.”

“What if he’s already sold it? Mr. Choi’s shop is actually pretty popular.”

“He didn’t, Jongho asked. And it’s only popular for weirdos and hooligans like us.” He nudges into Hongjoong’s side and smiles at him. “I always wondered how he stayed open with that type of clientele.”

Hongjoong frowns. “Well, what if—”

“How many what if’s are you going to throw at me before we get to the real question you have?” Wooyoung pointedly looks forward and uses his thumb to carass Hongjoong’s hand.

There’s a pause and Wooyoung wills himself to be patient. Hongjoong is most receptive when you let him take his time. They fall in silent step next to each other. When they round the corner and Mr. Choi’s Pawn Shop is in their sights, small, unassuming, and familiar, Hongjoong finally breathes out a small, “What if this isn’t enough?”

Wooyoung feels his brain pause. The emotion in Hongjoong’s voice is… different. It hits Wooyoung’s core and hurts a little. He doesn’t like the feeling. He doesn’t want Hongjoong to feel that low. “Joong, whatever happens after we give the stuff back, happens. We’ll all handle that together.” He squeezes his friend’s hand and continues. “They are free to accept or reject our apology, but you need to understand that what other people say or think about you doesn’t change you, make you, break you, whatever.” He pulls Hongjoong close and lets go of his hand to wrap his shorter friend in a comforting side hug.

Hongjoong leans onto him in thanks and, hopefully, accepts Wooyoung’s advise. They walk the short distance to the pawn shop like that, casually hugged up and comfortable. Hongjoong’s shoulders are less tense by the time they reach the door, the others having already gone inside.

“Remember,” Wooyoung says as he releases Hongjoong to grab the door for him. “The only person you have to make it up to is you.”

They go inside.

Days later, Jongho hits the team with an idea.

“This is it!” Jongho almost runs into Mingi, who is standing next to Hongjoong. 

“Jesus, what is it?” Hongjoong questions as he flinches from Jongho’s speediness while hurrying to help steady Mingi. 

“Look!” Jongho holds up a flyer for a fraternity looking for new members to intake. Hongjoong and Mingi lean in, ignoring the fact they are standing in the middle of a walkway in the center of campus. They read over the flyer and share a look of concern.

“A frat?” Mingi questions.

“Not just any frat,” Jongho insists. “This is Alpha Theta Zeta! I’ve been wanting to pledge them for so long!” He looks so excited and is talking so fast, Hongjoong doesn’t have time to get any words in edgewise. “We can all pledge and get involved with the community in a positive way.” Jongho’s quick to explain before going a little sheepish. “Plus, I’ve kind of really wanted to do this for a while.”

“We aren’t exactly the pledging type?” Hongjoong chuckles at the thought of someone yelling in Wooyoung’s face telling him to call them big daddy. “I’ll support you, though. Have fun.” Hongjoong dismisses easily, turning back to Mingi, no doubt about to continue what he was doing before Jongho ran up to them like a mad man.

“Come on, Joong, trust me on this!” Jongho pleads. Hongjoong sighs. They don’t have much of a choice now. When Jongho gets this insistent, things tend to go his way. “I want us to do this together.” Oh, great, now he’s whining.

“Let’s talk it over with Wooyoung first,” Hongjoong’s still iffy about the exchange, but it wouldn’t hurt to have a group meeting of sorts before ruling it out. Wooyoung is their last line of defense and that man hates doing extra work.

Mingi hums, lips pursed as he thinks it over. “I guess it could be fun.” 

As the trio walk to their dorm, Jongho does his level best to convince Hongjoong and Mingi that joining the frat is the move they’ve been waiting for. It would give them the chance to show a different side of themselves. Apparently, ATZ is a fraternity that prides themselves on their scholarship, friendship, and brotherhood. Jongho made sure that they all knew their motto was ‘culture for service and service for humanity’ and he made it sound like such a big deal that even Hongjoong found himself caving. If joining ATZ, a fraternity that has stars appearing in Jongho’s eyes, can get them more active outside of their regular class schedule, then why not kill two birds with one stone?

For the next few days, Jongho dedicates his time to begging Wooyoung to join all of them to the initial intake gathering. There is a pledging initiation event being held on the south side of campus and, after a lot of back and forth, Jongho is happily dragging Wooyoung there by his hand.

“You’ll like it, Woo, I promise.” Jongho holds onto Wooyoung tightly as they make their way across campus to the fraternity house.

“You better be right about this,” Hongjoong mutters from behind the couple. He’s not used to letting someone else plan their group moves like this, but he thinks he’s adjusting well. They’re on their way to pledge after all. 

“I’m not going to run away, you know I don’t run,” Wooyoung scoffs in annoyance. “I’m too pretty to run.” He pouts, practically radiating his irritation. Jongho dives down to peck his cheek quickly.

“My heart is racing,” Mingi pipes up, placing a hand over his heart in an attempt to put himself at ease.

“It’ll be fine. If we hate it, we can just leave. It’s not like they’re going to kill us.” Hongjoong smiles at his brother warmly. 

The boys make it to the pledge area and see people scattered around the grounds just standing around waiting for the event to start. The frat house is colonial style and is white with black shutters. The main entrance has ATZ in bold red letters over the top and the lawn is perfectly groomed with a white picket fence bordering the grass. Two buff dudes wearing black masks and red jackets stood on either side of the double door entrance.

“You here for intake?” One of them asks.

“Um, yeah?” Hongjoong didn’t mean for it to sound like a question, but that’s the way it came out. The other man opens the door to reveal the inside of the house. They can’t see much, it’s almost completely dark inside, but there’s a good six men holding candles and standing ominously. 

“The fuck?” Wooyoung questions, eyes widening at the sight. Meanwhile Jongho looks giddy with excitement.

Mingi grabs onto Hongjoong’s arm and cowers behind him. “Oh, my god, it’s a cult!”

They walk inside carefully, the crowd of people from outside giving them a good buffer from the ominous looking frat members standing around the perimeter of the room. The space is fairly open, the furniture that hopefully used to be in the room was removed to accommodate the large influx of people. Wooyoung is side eyeing every possible thing he can while Mingi clutches Hongjoong’s arm tighter. Jongho is a ball of excitement. Hongjoong is regretting coming along.

“Pledges!” One of the tallest guys in the front of the room suddenly yells. His voice is deep and familiar, but Hongjoong is too busy plotting his escape. They can figure out some other way to prove themselves. Maybe they can get real jobs and work out a 2-4 year plan.

The men in the front of the room are all wearing black masks that cover their entire face. Half of the mask is red and the other half is black, split right down the middle. Their hoodies are black and oversized, ATZ in bold, red graffiti print on the front. It makes them look bigger, more intimidating. Hongjoong can’t help but gulp at the sight.

“If you’re here now, then you believe Alpha Theta Zeta is the best, isn’t that right?” Another masked man questions. 

The crowd roars, Jongho along with them, but Hongjoong, Wooyoung, and Mingi keep quiet. Hongjoong shifts awkwardly before responding in a low tone. Honestly, he didn’t know what ATZ was until Jongho told him. But if Jongho likes them, maybe they are the best.

“Show us what you’re willing to do.” A mask man calls from behind Hongjoong and he nearly jumps out his skin. When the hell did he get there? 

“We’ll start out easy,” another of the men says loudly. “We are the Fellaz of Fire and Brimstone. If you wanna roll with us, you gotta pass a few tests first. Outside, there’s a map on the side of our house. You have 72 hours to find the treasure. Don’t disappoint us.”

“You heard the man, the clock is ticking!” Yet another one of the men comments. “Except for you four,” he shouts, pointing dead at Hongjoong and his friends, “everyone else leave.”

Hongjoong is deeply confused now and a lot worried. He watches as the other pledges funnel out of the house to go on a wild goose chase, him and the others are left to stand in their spots, waiting for the room to clear. Once the last of the pledges rushes outside and the big double doors close securely behind him, the gang are left alone with four masked men.

“Y’all seem tense,” one of the masked men taunts. He’s neither tall nor short, but his presence demands attention. Hongjoong can’t see his face, but he can hear the grin in his voice. 

“I think a nice dip in the pool would help ease them,” another one chimes in. 

“Is that an invitation? Or a demand?” Jongho questions. “Because I thought hazing was illegal.” His excitement was fading fast.

“You wanna join or not?” The shortest man fires back.

“Not sure now,” Mingi mutters, eyebrows furrowing and eyes darting around.

“Out back!” The tallest one suddenly yells. Hongjoong and them jump in surprise, the bass in the man’s voice startling them to their cores, and start making their way to the back of the house. Wooyoung fumbles with the backdoor knob, making the others nervous. Finally he opens the door to reveal an inground pool surrounded by concrete and lounge chairs.

“Strip.” A man commands from behind them as soon as they’re all outside.

“I don’t strip for strangers,” Hongjoong scoffs. There is no way he’s jumping into any pool naked.

The man pulls his mask off revealing his face. It’s San. “Strip for me, then?” He asks coily, smirk taunting. Hongjoong feels like he could die from embarrassment.

“S-San?” Hongjoong looks at the man in disbelief. What the fuck was going on here? “You’re in a frat?” Hongjoong questions.

“No questions.” San demands, authoritative tone resonating within Hongjoong’s spirit. He feels the urge to say ‘yes, sir’ but he holds himself back.

“Fuck, are the others with you, too?” Wooyoung questions, glaring at the rest of the masked men. One by one, the frat boys take their masks off to reveal themselves.

“Surprised?” Yunho chuckles, leveling them with a heavy stare.

Jongho fidgets nervously beside Hongjoong. “So, now what?” He asks plainly.

“Like I said, strip.” San’s eyes lock with Hongjoong’s and the shorter male decides to take on the challenge. Without saying anything, Hongjoong sets his jaw and pulls his t-shirt over his head, tossing it to the side. If this is what it takes, he’ll do it.

“Joong,” Mingi looks to his brother in shock.

Hongjoong’s eyes are unwavering on San’s as he continues on to take his pants off, followed quickly by his boxers. Stepping backwards, he winks at San and allows himself to fall into the ice cold pool.

“I do love a challenge,” Jongho smiles as he takes off his own clothes at the speed of light. He turns and cannonball’s into the pool, not giving it a second thought.

“Ugh, this is dumb,” Wooyoung groans as he strips down, making quick work of his clothes and willing himself not to blush at the extra eyes on his body. As soon as his last garment is off, he, too, rushes into the pool. Mingi is left standing hardly believing his eyes. Turning back to look at Yunho, Mingi gulps, eyes locking with the man in question. Slowly, he pulls his shirt over his head, then goes to undo the button on his jeans.

“Hope you enjoy the view,” Mingi teases weakly as he pulls down his pants along with his boxers before jumping into the pool.

“Nothing I haven’t seen before,” Yunho calls after him, licking his lips in the process. Mingi flashes him his middle finger and a pout for the comment.

Wooyoung grunts and slaps the water, impatiently. “Great, we’re naked and cold. Now what?” Wooyoung crosses his arms over his chest, a chill running through his body. 

“Should I call you big daddy, now?” Hongjoong teases San, whose face lights up with a bright blush. 

San takes a calming breath before he replies, “If you’re up for it.” He approaches the edge of the pool and squats down in front of Hongjoong. 

Not wanting to back down, Hongjoong swims towards San and rests his arms on the edge of the pool. “What now, big daddy?” 

San looks too surprised to answer. 

“We aren’t here to flirt.” Yeosang cuts in.

Hongjoong watches San turn around to look at his friends and shrugs. “He started it.”

“Well, end it. This water is cold,” Mingi pouts. He’s floating beside Wooyoung who’s nodding quickly in agreement.

“So, can we get out now?” Jongho asks, clearly uncomfortable with the turn of events. His eyes flirt between the frat boys above him and the naked Wooyoung beside him. He looks conflicted.

“Yeah, sure,” Yeosang answers idly. 

Hongjoong pulls himself out of the pool, San backing up to allow him space to stand. San’s eyes rake down his form before snapping determinedly up towards the sky. His face is so red, Hongjoong almost asks what's wrong, but he’s interrupted.

“Why are you guys here?” Yunho interrogates. 

“To pledge,” Hongjoong answers honestly. Soaking wet and butt naked, Hongjoong bends down to pull his pants on, leaving his torso on display. The others follow suit and get out the pool and start putting their clothes on as well. 

“You don’t seem the type.” San fires back, looking the boys up and down assessingly. 

“We’re not, but Jongho is. So, we’re branching out.” Hongjoong clarifies, shrugging in the process. “Turning a new leaf and all that.” 

“Why?” San continues to probe. 

“Is it so hard to believe we want to get involved in something?” Hongjoong questions, exasperation in his tone. “We’re not bad people. We want to prove that.” 

Seonghwa looks at him and smiles, leaning onto Yeosang for support. After Hongjoong and his boys left the other day, they all had a long talk. Yunho and San were rightfully mad, but they couldn’t deny they had feelings for Mingi and Hongjoong, which fueled most of their frustration about the whole situation. It helps that they returned all the stuff they stole, and now that they are openly and honestly trying to redeem themselves, Seonghwa feels himself easing onto them.

“Can you forgive us?” Mingi, now fully dressed, wet clothes clinging to his frame, asks Yunho directly. 

Hongjoong sees Yunho and San share a look before nodding their heads. “Maybe. Prove it to who?”

“Us.” Wooyoung announces.

“And you,” Hongjoong adds quickly.

“But mostly us.” Wooyoung clarifies, looking straight at Hongjoong.

Yeosang looks impressed, Seonghwa looks interested, San seems to be mulling over the information. Yunho is unreadable.

Yunho frowns, unamused. “Whatever, we’re not playing favorites. If you want to join, you have to do it like everyone else.” He gestures behind him to the frat house. “72 hours. Map’s on the side. Now, get out.”

Hongjoong and his friends frown at the curtness, but it sounds fair.

Let the games begin.

“This is impossible,” Wooyoung deadpans.

They’re standing outside the frat house, in the front yard this time, wet and oddly warm. It’s upsetting Hongjoong and his homeboys, but Jongho is sure he can figure out the riddle, if it can even be called that. The side of the house has a good paragraph of text on it, Hongjoong’s assuming it was a speech from one of the founding members, but he’s not sure. He just knows that it’s late and he’s wet.

“No, it’s not!” Jongho replies, adamant he can crack the case. “He gave everyone three days, so it can’t be that hard.”

“Or, it could be dumb hard and they want to watch us all sweat.” Mingi pipes in. He’s leaning off to the side, not really interested in the text. Hongjoong’s not even sure he made it past the first sentence before losing interest.

Jongho levels Mingi with a blank stare. “Thank you for the input, buddy. Really.”

“Any time.” Mingi winks back at him.

Hongjoong sighs. “Okay, okay, let’s try to focus.” Wooyoung and Jongho nod and all three of them re-read the text. “There has to be something here.” The speech is really flowery, Hongjoong bets it would’ve been great to listen to. It’s about finding what’s important to you and investing in it. It’s kind of pretty, actually.

_‘The sound of the wind blowing from the horizon, the warmth of the sun hitting the ocean waves, the vibration of sand beating like the hearts of youth. We’re at the starting point of this long journey. The freezing winds may make us shiver, the heat of the sun may make us thirsty, the vibrations of the sand may swallow us, but we’ll never stop.’_

Hongjoong can feel it.

_‘Gold, eternal life, honor, love, fame. It doesn’t matter what you dream for.’_

The answer is right in front of him.

_‘What is your treasure?’_

“What’s Alpha Theta Zeta’s treasure?” Wooyoung asks suddenly. “Maybe if we isolate that, we can start there.”

Jongho frowns, deep in thought. “Treasure is a mindset, it’s different for everyone so they never actually named something official.” Wooyoung scoffing ‘of course they didn’t’ went ignored by the rest of the group. “They have a mascot, but I doubt they want all of us trying to get at it.”

“What about the journey part?” Mingi chimes in. “Maybe they expect everyone to take the treasure part seriously because it’s so obvious, but the guy says it’s the start of a long journey.” Mingi shrugs. “Maybe it’s a history lesson.”

Jongho lights up. “Mingi, you genius, I could kiss you.”

Wooyoung frowns. “My day keeps getting worse.”

“Not now, sweetie,” Jongho placates. “ATZ was founded on this campus, actually, in 1918.”

Hongjoong blinks. “Okay, but, like. Where?”

Jongho smiles, looking satisfied with himself. “Let’s roll out boys, we’re going to King.”

The trek to the King building was a long one, their campus’s Greek Village a little out the way from the main campus buildings and dormitories. The boys walk briskly, clothes drying quickly as they go. King is a real unassuming building, Hongjoong has only been in it maybe twice his whole time enrolled at their school. Unassuming as it was, King is mostly an overflow building, housing classes for a lot of different majors. It’s weird they started there.

Coming towards the entrance to the building, Hongjong sees Mingi pause in front of him. “Guys, it’s like midnight. Aren’t the buildings closed?”

Wooyoung continues on, unbothered. “When has that ever stopped us?”

“Aren’t we supposed to follow the rules now?”

That makes Wooyoung pause. “Oh, yeah.” He runs his hands through his hair and it flops around stringily. “Then I guess we have a problem.”

Hongjoong pouts as he tries to get his brain to think of something, anything for them to do when Jongho’s voice rings out. “No, wait a second.” Hongjoong turns to see Jongho stalking up to the side of the building. He looks focused, almost admirably so since it was already so late at night. “There’s something over here.” Jongho waves them all to follow him.

On the side of the building, plain as day, there’s a bunch of different posters, advertisements, and memos for various things around the campus. Hongjoong finds his eyes trailing towards a drama club flyer before his eyes catch Jongho insistently pointing at a particular poster.

“Announcing initial intake meeting. See details below for interest.” Jongho’s face falls. “Boo, this is just a flyer for where we just were.”

Wooyoung comes up beside him and cups the back of his neck. He, too, examines the poster quizzically. “Maybe we should come back in the morning? Take our time to look inside, instead.”

Jongho’s shoulders droop. “Yeah, I guess.”

Hongjoong spares the poster one last glance before looking back at his boys. “Alright, let’s head back.”

They all turn to leave, moving leisurely towards their dorm on the other side of campus. They all seem lost in thought, Wooyoung and Jongho talking loudly as they bounce theories back and forth with Hongjoong chiming in lazily. Mingi’s also chiming in, but with far less enthusiasm. It’s understandable, he’s probably becoming less and less interested as all of this drags out. Hongjoong can’t blame him, really. It is late. He’s oddly damp in the weirdest places so he can only imagine how the others have faired drying off.

“I bet if we go in King tomorrow, there’s gonna be another speech to read.” Wooyoung spitballs.

Jongho nods along. “Maybe I should look up their founding member’s speeches. That would save us a trip.”

Hongjoong’s quick to veto that. “They seem like the talkative type, I bet they have a shit load of speeches in their archive. Let’s just go there and see what happens.” 

Mingi’s scrolling through his phone while he walks, only half listening to their conversation. “Watch it be a wall of just eights.”

They all shoot him confused looks. “Eights? What?” Wooyoung asks.

“They’re, like, obsessed with the number eight.” Mingi’s still looking at his phone as he continues on. “It was all over their poster, all around their frat house, I’d even bet it was in the rest of that speech on their house, too.”

Hongjoong and Wooyoung blink at him. Jongho explodes beside them. “Mingi is the smartest one out of all of us, holy shit! It’s the eights!” He whips his phone out quick as fire and rapidly types on it.

Mingi spares him a wide eyed glace before pocketing his phone and turning his gaze to Hongjoong and Wooyoung. “I think he’s broken, I’ve been complemented twice now.”

“I haven’t been complimented once,” Wooyoung pouts.

Hongjoong holds his index finger up to Wooyoung’s face. “Hold that thought. Jongho, what’s up with the eights?”

“When ATZ was founded they only had eight members.” Jongho’s quick to respond, face still buried in his phone. “For a really long time they weren’t popular so they decided to focus on themselves and build from within. If they gained members, it would be because of them and their, like, merit or something.”

Wooyoung grabs Jongho’s elbow and pulls him close to his side, the man having narrowly avoided running into a pole. They’re closing in on their dorm building now, and Hongjoong sighs in relief. It isn’t that late, really, but it’s been a long day and Hongjoong is tired.

As they make their way inside their dormitory’s lobby, Mingi calls for the elevator as he talks over his shoulder. “What did they do to gain members? Maybe that’s where the next clue is.”

There’s a beat and then Jongho is encasing Mingi in the tightest back hug known to man. “Mingi is the best out of all of us!” Jongho proclaims dramatically over Mingi’s yelps of protest. He pushes Mingi into the elevator when the doors open and Hongjoong watches as Wooyoung mopes in behind them. Hongjoong laughs.

As the elevator door closes, Wooyoung can be heard loudly complaining as Jongho continues to cling on to Mingi, who looks resigned to his fate. Hongjoong is proud of their progress so far. He can rest easy tonight knowing they’ve gotten so far. They’ve done so well.

They’re going to be just fine.

Just shy of two days later, Yunho and his friends are camping out at their frat house, just hanging out, waiting for the different initial intake pledges to report back from the scavenger hunt they were sent on. They normally don’t like just sitting around in the ATZ house, preferring the easygoingness of their own places to the boisterous loudness that tends to cling to the walls because of all the members that live there. However, they drew the short stick this go around.

They are all sitting in the front room of their fraternity house. The area is open to encourage free range movement, but there’s a wall partitioning the space from the rest of the house. There’s some couches and chairs arranged tastefully in the center of the room, bookshelves line the walls, and the rug on the floor is dark and soft under their feet. Yunho found himself lounging in a recliner chair by himself, one leg up while the other hung off the side. The rest of the boys are sitting on the couch in front of him, Seonghwa is Yeosang’s lap as usual on one side and San sitting cross legged on the other side.

The house mascot, a ship in a bottle, is on display on a table near them and the television in the room in the room next to them. The background noise is nice, actually. Calming in a way that allows the boys to relax. These last couple weeks have been a rollercoaster of events for them. Yunho in particular.

He’s been thinking over the chain of events for a while now. Talking over things with his boys and, quite frankly, talking it over to himself, has helped him reach a peaceful medium. People are interesting, in good and bad ways. As he looks over his friends who are engaged in a lively conversation, he thinks about what they’ve helped him realize. He’s glad that he’s surrounded himself with good people, good friends that have his back, while also calling him out when he gets out of character and reaffirming that his feelings are his feelings.

While he admits that almost starting a fight in Seonghwa and Yeosang’s room wasn’t his best move, he will say that, should it have happened, he wouldn’t regret anything. It's upsetting? Unsettling? That you could let someone in your bubble, be nothing but nice to them, and then they just disappoint you like that, disrespect you and your things like that. Yunho’s not sure if he can forgive them.

But then they showed up at the intake meeting the other day. They let San tell them what to do. Allowed themselves to be hazed, as weak as it was, and they still wanted to be in their frat? And they want forgiveness? He’s having a hard time wrapping his head around it all. Yunho likes to think he’s a giving person, he genuinely likes seeing people happy. His knee jerk reaction to someone expressing any type of negative emotion is to comfort them. Seeing Hongjoong look as resourceful as he did, seeing Mingi and Jongho as determined as they looked, and seeing Wooyoung look… like Wooyoung really made Yunho think. Could he really forgive them?

He’s deep in thought when a knock on the front door interrupts his friend’s conversation. Yeosang yells for them to come in and Yunho watches as the door slowly creaks open. Speak of the devil.

“Well, well, well, look what the cat dragged in,” Yunho calls out, face carefully neutral. Can’t let them think he’s easy. He sees Mingi frown and feels a little bad but he brushes off that feeling quickly. He needs to stay firm.

Hongjoong’s face scrunches up briefly before relaxing into a more neutral look. “We finished the hunt.” He announces it softly to the room, so much so it was a little hard for Yunho to hear him over the noises coming from the rest of the house. Yunho feels himself squinting.

“Come again?” San speaks up. “Come in, come closer.”

Seonghwa beckons them closer with his hands and Yeosang rests his head into the crook of Seonghwa’s neck, winding his arms around his boyfriend's waist more securely before giving the newcomers his full attention.

Hongjoong leads his boys closer, Jongho matching him step for step right beside him with the other two hot on their trail. Once closer, they choose to awkwardly stand instead of sitting on the very available couch across from them. Yunho doesn’t say anything, though, and neither do his boys. They have to let them sweat.

“Well?” Yunho goads.

Hongjoong’s face does the thing again, but Jongho cuts in before he can open his mouth. “The treasure hunt. We finished it.” Jongho’s mouth is set firm. He looks accomplished.

Yunho sees Seonghwa cock his head to the side, careful not to jostle Yeosang too much. “Did you find the treasure?”

They all nod and Jongho continues to speak for them. “Yeah, look,” he says as he taps something on his phone before turning it to show Yunho’s friends. He can’t see it well from where he’s sitting, but San reaches out for it and Jongho lets him take it. The shorter man looks impressed at what he sees. As the phone makes its way down the line of boys, Jongho talks again. “We know that the founding members of ATZ were big on doing well for themselves and others. They didn’t make a big deal about their accomplishments because they wanted their work to speak for itself.”

The phone gets to Yunho and he looks at it briefly. It’s a plaque at what appears to be an orphanage with their frat’s name on it. It has ‘proud to help, proud to serve’ on it and, yeah, they found the treasure alright. Yunho’s a little surprised, he’s never seen this one before. Truthfully, they could’ve found any number of charities in and outside of their town. Alpha Theta Zeta takes on a lot of small and big time charities and organizations, so, in truth, Yunho has been learning just as much as the new intakes whenever they come to present their findings.

He passes the phone back to Jongho. “This is good,” he says easily. “Few questions for you, now.” Jongho and the others train their eyes on him in anticipation. “What were the founding members called?”

“The Great Eight,” Jongho answers.

San speaks next. “And what was their motto?”

“Eight makes one team,” Hongjoong replies swiftly.

Yeosang pipes up this time, voice calm and deep. “What does that mean?”

Mingi surprises Yunho by responding this time. “No one person is insignificant. Each one of the Great Eight were needed for their team to be what they were, and for this fraternity to become what it is. Value is in the people of the team.” Yunho feels like he’s seeing him for the first time.

“So did you find your treasure?” Seonghwa rounds out.

That one makes the group visually pause. They all look to be wracking their brains and Jongho even opens his mouth soundlessly, but, in the end, it’s Wooyoung that answers. “Yes,” he says adamantly. His boys all whip around to look at him as he continues on. “And no. Kind of,” he relents, looking sheepish from all the attention. “I think we’ve had it all along because we have each other. But, also, I think there’s more for us to reach together.”

Jongho smiles at him and it’s so full of love, Yunho almost feels like he’s intruding. “Yeah, what he said.” Looking back at Yunho and his friends seated on the couch, Jongho smiles at them as well. “The founding members said it’s a mindset, right? We’re finding ours right now.”

San, Seonghwa, and Yeosang all nod along with Jongho’s words. They look over to Yunho and he already knows how they feel about what they just heard. They’re letting him have the final say, though. He appreciates that. “Okay,” he gives.

“Okay?” Hongjoong repeats questioningly.

“Yeah,” Yunho says back, easy as breathing. Something in him feels lighter. He must be making the right choice. “I hope we can help with that.” He gives them a small smile and San, Seonghwa, and Yeosang all clap for the standing boys in the room.

Hongjoong’s eye blow wide with surprise before he speaks. “Wait, does this mean...?”

Yunho nods. “You’re in.”


	5. Chapter 5

Wooyoung rolls his eyes at Jongho who is practically bouncing off the walls. He loves Jongho, but the man has an endless source of energy, which can be a good and bad thing at times. Right now, they’re all on their way to a party at their new fraternity house. Being active members of Alpha Theta Zeta has been an experience. They have so many new responsibilities now, like having to show up and show out at events. It’s hard on Wooyoung in particular since he isn’t a party person, never really in the mood to socialize like Jongho always is. Because of this, Jongho is clutching Wooyoung’s hand as if he would run away at any moment. 

“I can’t feel my hand,” Wooyoung complains, grunting as he continues to walk next to his boyfriend. On the other side of Jongho is Hongjoong and next to him is Mingi. Everyone is filled with excitement except for Wooyoung. 

“Sorry, babe,” Jongho apologizes sheepishly and loosens his grip on Wooyoung’s hand. 

“Cheer up, Wooyoung! It’ll be fun!” Mingi encourages cheerfully, leaning around Hongjoong to pat Wooyoung's front encouragingly. 

“I’m sure you all will have fun,” Wooyoung can’t hide the contempt in his voice. 

“You’ll have fun, too,” Hongjoong reassures. 

The boys walk up to their frat house, familiar in all it’s red and black glory, and marvel at the throngs of people already outside on the lawn drinking and chatting away. Some already look drunk, while others are doing their best to catch up. Apparently, ATZ throws some of the best parties on campus. People think it’s because of Yunho that the parties are so successful, the man being the reigning king of parties since he rolled up his freshman year some time ago. Hearing his name associated with a party means a good time to many people. 

Wooyoung continues holding Jongho’s hand as they walk into the house. There are so many people, it is almost difficult to move around. The music is loud, but conversations can still be heard in close quarters. In the living room, there’s a giant table where people are playing beer pong. It’s there where Yunho can be found. He’s laughing away with some friends of his and looks to be enjoying himself. Wooyoung sees Mingi glance that way sporadically. Those two have been playing a weird game of cat and mouse, Yunho seeming really into Mingi just to turn around and act cold to him.

Wooyoung doesn’t move until Jongho pulls him towards the drinks. By this time, Mingi and Hongjoong flutters off somewhere together, at least that’s what Wooyoung assumes. It’s hard to separate Hongjoong from Mingi, and vice versa. Two peas in a pod, those guys.

“Here,” Jongho pulls Wooyoung out of his thoughts by passing him a red solo cup filled with alcohol. 

“You’re too kind,” Wooyoung chides sarcastically, smiling at his boyfriend. The smile is fake and drops immediately. Wooyoung glares at the cup. 

Just as Wooyoung takes a sip, a commotion is heard in a room over. Curious, he releases Jongho’s hand and moves through the crowd, Jongho following behind him. There’s a small clearing in the middle of the room where Mingi and another dude stand. It’s clear the man is drunk, he’s wobbly on his feet and slurring his words.

“Why the fuck did you push me?” The man yells at Mingi. “Watch where the fuck you’re going!” He shoves Mingi in the chest and watches as the other stumbles backwards. “I’m going to fuck you up!” Mingi looks scared beyond belief. Clearly frozen and panicking, his chest rising rapidly and face shiny with nervous sweat, Mingi stands before the man stricken with fear.

Wooyoung springs into action. He sees the man make a move towards Mingi again and all bust dashed through the crowd, cup dropping from his hands. Jongho’s faster, though, and comes between Mingi and the man before anything else can happen. “Hey! He’s sorry,” Jongho tries to reason.

“He’s not sorry, he’s clumsy.” The man, who isn’t even in ATZ, spits out. His shirt has different letters on it, but Wooyoung doesn’t care to read them. 

“Dude, seriously, another word and you’re on the floor.” Jongho takes a step towards the man. Wooyoung hates to admit it right now, but it’s always a turn on to see protective Jongho. While his boyfriend continues to deal with the bitchmade dude, Wooyoung moves to Mingi and wraps his arms around his middle to comfort him.

“It’s okay, just focus on your breathing. You’re safe now.” Wooyoung reiterates a phrase Hongjoong says to Mingi whenever he gets like this.

“Fuck off, bitch!” The man yells, and just like that Jongho reels back and punches the dude square in his nose, knocking him down to the ground instantly from the force. 

“Get his ass out of here.” Jongho demands to some random partygoers, looking intimidating and all powerful. They listen, following his order rapidly, not wanting to be on the receiving end of his wrath like the dude out cold was. Wooyoung watches them drag the guy out, the people in the room still in shock from what they have seen. Wooyoung is probably the least shocked out of everyone. 

“Is he okay?” Seonghwa places his hand on Wooyoung’s shoulder and nods towards an out of it looking Mingi. 

“Yeah, he will be.” Wooyoung looks up to see Yunho on the other side of the room looking shocked, the commotion naturally getting his attention. Hongjoong pushes through the crowd, appearing out of nowhere, and moves to the other side of Mingi.

“Min, I’m so sorry. Come on, let’s go somewhere quiet.” Hongjoong tries to soothe Mingi with his voice, something that starts working. Mingi slowly comes out of it and nods his head slowly. Watching the duo leave, Wooyoung is left standing with Seonghwa and Yeosang. 

“If it’s not too much, do you mind telling us what is going on? He clearly can’t handle yelling.” Yeosang is the first to speak after Mingi and Hongjoong leave. 

Walking over at the question, Jongho sighs heavily. “Basically, he was in some rough foster homes. We don’t know exactly what happened, only Hongjoong does, but we just know that growing up wasn’t pleasant for him,” Jongho explains.

“So what about Hongjoong and him?” Seonghwa asks. 

“They basically grew up together. After Mingi left his second foster home and went back to the orphanage, they grew real close.” Wooyoung figures honesty is the best policy now. No sense in keeping anymore secrets, they’ve all seen what that can do. 

“They’re both orphans?” Yeosang comments, running over that information out loud. Wooyoung can practically hear his brain working overtime to process the news. 

“Look, I know you guys must be really curious about us, all things considered, but can we talk at a different time? I need to check on Mingi.” Wooyoung cuts the conversation abruptly. 

“Yeah, no problem,” Seonghwa replies, putting his hands up to shoo them along.

Wooyoung leaves with Jongho trailing right behind him.

Jongho and Wooyoung agree to meet with Seonghwa and Yeosang a few days later, just to talk and give some clarity on a few things. They’re all sitting in Seonghwa and Yeosang’s dorm room, Jongho on the couch, Wooyoung on the floor between his boyfriend’s legs, Yeosang on the couch next to Jongho, and Seonghwa is sitting on a beanbag chair by the coffee table, just getting comfortable. 

“So, what do you want to know?” Wooyoung asks as he takes a sip of a drink Seonghwa kindly gave him.

“I guess we just want to know why? Why steal?” Seonghwa questions as he leans forward. 

“Well, we all have our own reasons,” Wooyoung starts. “Personally, I needed to pay for college. I had a few jobs before, but I was doing too much and my grades started to suffer. My parents couldn’t help so something had to give.” 

“What about Mingi and Hongjoong?” Yeosang asks, reclining back into the couch as if it’s story time. 

“Well, Mingi has this thing with taking things. He’s a true kleptomaniac. He’s been stealing things for years now. Mostly small things, but we realized we could make some actual money off his skills.” Jonho chimes in to explain about Mingi. No one really knows why Mingi steals so much, but it probably has something to do with him going through all of the foster homes he did. Mingi doesn’t talk about it and they don’t ask. 

“Hongjoong is, well, he didn’t really like stealing, but he wanted to help the orphanage out somehow,” Wooyoung explains. Hongjoong would go to Wooyoung frequently about his concern for Mingi stealing, and them stealing as a group overall. If Hongjoong had an angel and a devil on his shoulders, they would both be Wooyoung. 

“Hongjoong’s always had problems with us stealing, but knowing the money was helping kids like him and Mingi eased him.” Jongho stretches his legs out some, nudging Wooyoung in the process, releasing tension he didn’t know he had. 

“What about now? How does he plan on helping the kids?” Seonghwa seems empathetic towards Wooyoung and the others. 

“Well, he started volunteering, and even thought of ideas about fundraising for the orphanage through the frat.” Joongho figures it’s a good time to bring up Hongjoong’s idea of fundraising. 

“That sounds awesome! I’m sure Yunho and San will be on board, too. We were just talking about brainstorming ideas the other day.” Seonghwa excitedly claps his hands together. 

“Any more questions?” Wooyoung asks patiently.

“No, I think you answered the biggest ones.” Seonghwa places his index finger under his chin and looks up, deep in thought.

“Actually, wait,” Yeosang speaks up. He runs his fingers through Seonghwa’s hair idly while he talks. “Jongho, where do you come in all this?”

Jongho smiles. “This one,” he starts, ruffling the hair of the man sitting in between his legs. “This one’s mine. They’re all mine, but this one in particular.” He pecks a kiss to the crown of Wooyoung’s head sweetly. “Whatever he’s into, whatever he's doing, I’m going to back him one hundred percent.”

Wooyoung looks up at him softly. There are hearts in his eyes.

“We should probably head out. Woo has a test tomorrow, we have some cramming to do.” Jongho says truthfully.

“Okay,” Seonghwa jumps up to see Wooyoung and Jongho out. “Thanks for telling us all this,” he says sincerely. Wooyoung and Jongho nod, smiling as they leave.

Walking out of the dorm room, Jongho looks at Wooyoung when he hears the door close behind them. “Did we tell them too much?”

“Oh, just our life stories, it’s fine really.” Wooyoung chuckles.

“Hopefully they’ll understand us more.” Jongho grabs Wooyoung’s hand and caresses the back of it soothingly. 

“I think so. We can only hope that the others work it out, too.” Wooyoung laces his fingers with Jongho’s sweetly as they make their way back to their dorm. 

Hongjoong can confidently say he’s never considered joining a fraternity, never thought of it as an option, so for him this was an eye opening moment for him. The boys of ATZ are wild and rambunctious but also smart and studious. They’re a large group of very diverse people that enjoyed fellowship and brotherhood and valued their team over the individual. Jongho was right to want to join ATZ.

Hongjoong was worried about Wooyoung and Mingi adjusting, at first, but they both really flourished while pledging. Once the initial shock of the pseudo hazing subsided, they were hard at work with all the events leading up to their initiation. With all four boys now proud members of ATZ, Hongjoong felt at ease within himself.

Their first act as official members is to submit suggestions for the fraternity’s next philanthropic cause. He knows the perfect one, he just needs to check on some things first. Coming out of his last class for the day, Hongjoong looks down at his phone to see a text from San. 

_**San:** What are you up to later?_

_**Hongjoong:** I have someplace to go._

_**San:** Can I come with?_

_**Hongjoong:** Yeah, meet me outside my dorm._

Hongjoong smiles down at his phone before sliding it back into his pocket. He wants to visit his old orphanage. He’s never taken anyone there before, but he wants to show San every side of himself. He’s working on a new him, a better and more open him, and he wants to start fresh.

Going back to his dorm, Hongjoong’s surprised to see San beat him there. “You must’ve been on campus already,” Hongjoong smiles at San as he approaches the man calmly and leads him down the walkway by his dorm to the parking lot. 

“Yeah, I was going to Yeo and Hwa’s when we were texting.” A soft blush dusts San’s cheeks and his dimples pop when he smiles sheepishly. He’s so pretty. 

“Come on, I’ll drive.” Hongjoong waves at San for him to follow along towards the car. Once they are inside the car, Hongjoong starts the engine and they're off. 

“Where are we going?” San asks from the passenger seat. 

“You’ll see.” Hongjoong smiles as he continues to stare at the road in front of him. 

They drive for almost half an hour before the sign for Queen City Orphanage can be seen in the distance. San looks at Hongjoong quizzically as he pulls into a visitor parking spot. Turning the car off, Hongjoong adjusts himself to face San. “I wanted to show you where I grew up.” 

“You’re an orphan?” San questions and his eyes seem far away before he blinks and looks back at Hongjoong’s eyes. “That’s why you got so mad that time. I’m sorry, Hongjoong, I wouldn’t have said anything if I had known.” 

“It’s okay. I just wanted to show you who I am. Be more open with you.” Hongjoong smiles before opening the car door and hopping out. San follows Hongjoong’s lead and hops out as well. The orphanage consists of several buildings spread out over a campus. The buildings are older, but not too rundown. Some have noticeable renovations and it makes Hongjoong’s heart smile. He circles the car to San’s side and motions for the man to follow him. 

“That’s the building Mingi and I lived in when we were little.” Hongjoong points out a dormitory in the distance. 

“Is that why you call Mingi your brother?” San questions, big, doe eyes taking in everything around him.

“Yeah, we grew up together here.” Hongjoong explains as they continue to walk around the small campus. “Over there is the rec center,” Hongjoong says, gesturing to the largest building on the campus. 

“Hongjoong,” San starts, voice sounding choked as he speaks, “you don’t have to show me this.”

Hongjoong shakes his head. “I know, but I want to. My life isn’t a sob story. I’ve met some amazing people growing up here. I just wanted to share this part of myself with you.” Hongjoong stops walking to look at San. 

San’s eyes hold something unreadable in them as Hongjoong stares at him. “I’m not sure what to say,” he mutters. 

“You don’t have to say anything,” Hongjoong assures, smiling at him before resuming his walk. Hongjoong purses his lips before continuing, “I think it’s pretty clear why I’m showing you this.” 

“Why’s that?” San inquires. 

Hongjoong smiles softly. “I like you,” he confesses, easy as breathing. Something about being where he grew up and confessing to San made him feel lighthearted. It’s the most vulnerable and honest Hongjoong’s been to someone outside his circle in a long while. 

San stops walking and looks at Hongjoong. “I like you, too,” he whispers, like saying it too loud would make Hongjoong take back his own confession.

Hongjoong’s heart soars to new heights hearing his crush’s words. Smiling at him, Hongjoong holds his hand out for San to take. They continue their tour around the grounds hand-in-hand. 

After going around the grounds, Hongjoong and San decide to go back to Hongjoong’s place. Hongjoong suggests watching a movie or something like that to entertain San. He wants to hang out with the other more. Luckily, San agrees easily and they head back to his dorm.

The drive back is quick, Hongjoong pulling into the parking lot beside his building with no incident. Getting out of the car, when Hongjoong comes around to the other side, San is standing with his hand out for Hongjoong to grab. Smiling big and bright, he takes San’s hand and they make their way into the dorm, all the while San’s thumb keeps caressing the back of Hongjoong’s hand. Hongjoong can’t help but feel giddy. 

Entering his shared dorm, Hongjoong is surprised to note that no one else is there. The gods must be favoring him. He really didn’t feel like explaining to Mingi and the others about his new relationship status. San follows closely behind Hongjoong as he leads him to his room. Once inside, Hongjoong closes the door and locks it. 

“Locking me in?” San teases as he releases Hongjoong’s hand. 

“It’s so you can’t run,” Hongjoong winks, teasing him back. San moves to sit on the edge of Hongjoong’s bed, which is pushed into the left corner of the room. Hongjoong’s room doesn’t have much in it. A bed on the left side and a desk on the right. A mini fridge is next to the desk with a decent sized tv on top of it, courtesy of Mingi’s five finger discount. It’s kind of obvious he doesn’t spend a lot of time in his actual bedroom.

“Don’t tell me we’re actually watching a movie,” San smirks, licking his lips in the process. 

“Oh?” Hongjoong says, eyebrows raising at the boldness of the statement. “What are we doing then?” He asks coily. There’s a new tension in the room and it’s making Hongjoong hot under his collar.

“Come here.” San orders. Hongjoong’s brows knit together as he crosses the room to San. Standing in front of the sitting man, San pats his lap, signaling for Hongjoong to sit down. Hongjoong feels oddly obedient and slides into San’s lap, straddling the man. “You’re so obedient. It’s cute.” San grins up at Hongjoong.

“Shut up,” Hongjoong says, feeling embarrassed. He looks away and blinks rapidly, trying to will his blush away.

San wraps his arms around Hongjoong’s waist, tilting his head upwards and puckering his lips brazenly. Taking the hint, Hongjoong dips down to kiss him sweetly. The kiss starts out innocently enough, but soon the passion takes over. Hands roaming over each other's bodies, rumpling the fabric of their shirts, and tongues brushing against each other. San’s hands rest at the hem of Hongjoong’s shirt for a moment, and he worries the fabric before breaking their kiss. “Can I?” He pants, skin flushed and looking so pretty. Who can say no to that face?

“Of course,” Hongjoong replies, and then the real fun begins. 

Mingi’s waiting outside of Yunho’s astronomy class with his back against the wall and his bookbag resting between his feet. His bangs are pushed out of his face by a thin, zigzag headband. His glasses rest heavily on his nose and his skin is flushed. Joining ATZ did wonders for their friendship, but Mingi is still a little nervous about being alone with the man. Yunho is confusing, one moment Mingi will think he likes him just for Yunho to get distant and nonchalant on him.

Yunho’s a really nice guy, calm, sweet, and kind, but only when you deserve it. His anger towards Mingi when he found out about the necklace was justified, but that doesn’t mean Mingi’s hurt wasn’t any less real. It’s been a struggle of sorts for the two of them to find some common ground, but they’re trying.

Mingi twitches his fingers and checks the time on his phone. Yunho should be let out any minute now. Mingi takes his chapstick out of his pocket and applies a generous layer to his lips, using his phone’s camera as a mirror. He spaces out while applying it so his lips end up looking a little too shiny, but they’re noticeably smoother when he goes to lick off the excess and they taste like cherry so there’s that. He absentmindedly sucks at his bottom lip while he waits.

He’s busy thinking about what he wants to eat for dinner later, maybe he can convince his boys to go across campus to the nice dining hall, when he feels a presence loom over him. He looks up slowly, willing himself not to jump and squeak like he normally would. It’s Yunho, of course it’s Yunho. He’s recently gotten a haircut, bangs falling neatly over his forehead and making him look softer than usual.

“Hey,” Yunho greets, now leaning over Mingi’s form, caging him in. “Did you wait long?”

Mingi blinks away the deja vu before responding. “No, it was fine,” he placates dazedly. “I actually, um, have something for you.” He goes to bend down for his bookbag, but Yunho’s standing a little too close for him to get to it without something awkward happening, like Mingi headbudding his dick on his way down. He gnaws at his lip and blushes when he sees Yunho’s eyes trail the movement.

“What is it?” Yunho asks, voice a little deeper, and leaning further into Mingi’s space.

Mingi takes a grounding breath before answering. “Your pants.”

That makes Yunho pause. He blinks in confusion and leans backwards. “My pants?”

Sheepish, Mingi gestures to his bag on the floor. “I noticed them while I was going through my closet and I remembered you let me borrow them the last time I, um.” He feels his face heat up even more. He’s usually more confident than this, he swears. “Yeah. So, I figured you might want them back.”

Yunho let’s his gaze drop to the bag resting on the floor between them. “Pants…” he mutters to himself. Suddenly, his face lights up in remembrance. He chuckles. “I think that’s one of the few things you took from me with my permission.”

Mingi squawks. “Hey! I said I was sorry! I’m trying my best to show you I’m–”

“Keep them,” Yunho interrupts. His eyes look softer and his mouth is curled into a gentle smile. He strokes Mingi’s cheek and whatever he sees on Mingi’s face makes his smirk return. “I like how they make your thighs look.”

Mingi’s eyes widen and he swats Yunho’s hand away. He looks both ways up and down the hallway they’re in. The very public hallway on their public university campus where anyone could walk by and hear Yunho talk about Mingi’s thighs of all things. “Bro, oh my god,” he pants out.

Yunho purses his lips, looking exactly like the cat that got the cream. “Actually, you know what,” he lets his hand tease the hair at the nape of Mingi’s neck this time. “Wear them when I take you out.”

Mingi blinks, slightly taken off guard. “I’m sorry, what? Like, a date?”

“Yeah, is there a problem?”

“No, no!” Mingi’s quick to confirm. He’d be lying if he said his crush on Yunho died. The man is Mingi’s type through and through.

“Cool, let’s go. I’ll drive,” and just like that Yunho walks away, cool as anything. The setting sun coming through the glass windows in the hallway make Yunho look like the man of his dreams, but that could also be from the dick drought Mingi’s had since he’s met the man.

He feels like his brain is glitching, he’s thinking so hard. He’s frozen on the wall. “Wait, now? We’re going right now?”

“Yeah,” Yunho calls out. Looking over his shoulder, he winks. “Unless you had other plans. I remember liking how those pants looked on my floor, too. We can always do that instead.”

If he blushes anymore, he’s going to explode. “I need to change!”

“What,” Yunho replies. “The bathrooms here aren’t good enough for you?”

Mingi levels Yunho with a look. “I had lab earlier, I’m not going on a date in this gross shirt.” He pushes himself off the wall and bends to grab his bookbag. Moving to stand next to Yunho, he pointedly looks forward and grabs the tall man’s hand. “Let’s go to my dorm first.”

Yunho holds his hand the entire way there.

Walking into his dorm’s living room, it’s quiet. Mingi pops his shoes off by the door and leads Yunho to the couch in the living room. He urges the man to sit before telling him he’ll be right back and dashing off to his bedroom. “Help yourself to whatever!” Mingi calls out before shutting the door behind him.

Sitting in the living room alone, Yunho takes a moment to look around. Their place is bigger than Seonghwa and Yeosang’s dorm because it houses four people instead of two and the amount of clutter in the living room attests to that. The laptop on the coffee table looks well loved and the gaming consoles by the television, while old, interest him. He has half a mind to look through the games piled high to the side of the television, but his stomach growls, interrupting his thoughts. He looks over to the kitchen area and contemplates for a bit. Mingi did tell him to help himself.

He gets up from the couch easily and glides his way to the kitchen, aiming to look through the cabinets for a light snack. He plans on taking Mingi out for dinner and maybe a movie if the man is up for it, so he doesn’t want to spoil his appetite too much. He barely passes the archway into the kitchen before his ears twitch.

He pauses midstep. He must be hearing things. It almost sounds like someone’s moaning. He looks to his right, to where Mingi’s door is. It’s too soft to tell but, no. That doesn’t make sense, why would Mingi be moaning. Masturbation is normal, everyone does it, but to rub one out right before your date, while your date is in the other room? Ballsy.

Yunho blinks to himself. He feels himself start to chub in his pants. Mingi should know he’s always down to fuck before a date, always down to get his dick wet whenever, to be honest. A particularly high pitched moan jolts him into action. Appetite forgotten, he beelines straight to Mingi’s door.

Except, when he gets to Mingi’s door, the sounds aren’t coming from there. There’s a door adjacent to the one Mingi went in and that’s where the sounds are coming from. He tilts his head in confusion, trying to wrack his brain for if any of the boys ever mentioned whose rooms are where in their dorm and coming up blank. His curiosity is peaked and he finds himself drifting towards the door, left ear angled perfectly towards it.

It’s breathy at first, any real sounds muted by the door and whatever is going on in there. It’s only when hears a sharp ‘fuck’ panted out, followed quickly by a long whine, does Yunho back up, face aflame. Whoever is in there is not alone. Yunho stands there dumbfounded. That sounds like—

_“You think you deserve to come, baby?”_

_“Please, San, yes!”_

Yeah, Yunho could have lived his whole life without hearing that. He backs into Mingi’s door and thinks about banging his head on it, blunt force trauma erases memories sometimes, he's heard. But, Mingi opens it just in time. His entire outfit is changed and his hair is styled out of his face without the headband from before. He’s so pretty, white button down framing him wonderfully, Yunho’s pants clinging to his thighs in the best way. Mingi opens his mouth to say something, shock written plainly on his face at Yunho being so close, but Yunho walks him backwards back into his room.

He kicks the door behind him but it doesn’t close all the way. He continues to walk Mingi backwards until they reach his bed. It’s lofted so it hits right at Mingi’s waist. He cages him in.

“Can I help you?” Mingi asks slowly. He looks relaxed enough, shoulders back and a small smile on his face. 

Yunho moves their hips flush against each other, half hard dick still very much present in his pants.

Mingi’s eyebrows shoot up in interest. “Oh, that type of help.” His hands move to trail down Yunho’s torso, settling on the top of his jeans. “I don’t know. Sex before the first date? I don’t want to seem too easy.” He smiles coily, winking as his hands flutter closer and closer to the front of Yunho’s jeans. He toys with the button.

Yunho leans into Mingi’s jaw and trails light kisses down his neck. “I like you easy,” Yunho pants into the crook of Mingi’s neck, sucking a hickey there. Mingi’s breathy moan is music to his ears. “You’re perfect. My pretty little, easy wh—”

Mingi pushes at his face. “If you call me a whore, I’m kicking you out,” he frowns, face scrunched up cutely, but the prize in his pants is telling a different story.

Yunho laughs, “Even if it’s a compliment?”

Mingi starts to respond but he’s cut off. The moans in the room next to them just got louder. Mingi looks shocked at the sounds, looking at the wall he shares with the other room with wide eyes and his mouth agape. “Is he?”

Drifting from the cracked door, Yunho and Mingi can hear a muffled few words.

_“Be a good boy for me, Joong. Good boys get rewarded. Don’t you want to please me?”_

_“Fuck, yeah, I’ll be good for you, San, please!”_

Mingi is pushing Yunho away immediately, slapping at Yunho’s sides to move him along faster. “Absolutely not,” he says with finality. He snatches his wallet off his desk beside the bed and grabs Yunho’s elbow to lead them out of his room and to the front door of the dorm room. He makes quick work of putting his shoes on and all but yanks Yunho out of there in his haste to get away from the sounds.

Yunho giggles the whole way to his car.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks so much for taking this journey with us! we really enjoyed writing this and we're looking forward to writing together more in the future!
> 
> pls leave kudos and comments they make us happy!


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